Janie is the Executive Director and a founder of Green Streets Initiative. A University of Michigan (BA Social Science) and MIT (M Arch) graduate, she worked for 20 years as an architect in the Boston area, and has traveled and worked around the world.

 

She and her family - husband and three kids - have enjoyed a car-free life since 2007 and have been mostly airplane-flying-free since a few years after that, initially stopping for environmental reasons, then later realizing many other benefits.

 

Janie envisions Walk/Ride Days expanding in the Boston and MA region, nationally, and internationally.

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Contact: jkatzchristy@gogreenstreets.org

Sophie is Associate Director at the Green Streets Initiative and a scooter and transit enthusiast. She has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BA in Public Policy and Economics from Duke University. She brings over 15 years of private company experience in the financial services and technology sectors. 

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She lives in Boston with her husband and two children.

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Contact: sophies@gogreenstreets.org

Maria is a Quality Improvement Consultant for Children's Hospital working specifically with medication management hospital-wide. She has also received her MBA with a focus in health sector management and strongly believes that a big part of quality healthcare is the implementation of preventative measures for overall health.

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Prior to this role, Maria focused on building strong relationships with strategic business partners for an innovative electronic medical record company. Here she helped to implement business development strategies for disruptive healthcare organizations and worked to increase operational efficiencies in medical provider workflows through utilizing solutions from partners spanning across the medical field.

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Maria has also lived in Boston for eight years without a car and is an avid walker who strongly believes that incorporating exercise into one's daily commute can make for a healthier community overall.

Alix has worked with small and medium sized organizations for the last few years helping them achieve their goals through grant writing, policy development, and visual story telling. She has worked broadly in program management for both international development organizations and domestic arts nonprofits for over a decade and has loved the variety of her daily work.

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Alix has been car free since 2007 and has enjoyed engaging like-minded commuters at the local level. Walking in Boston has served as a meditative practice each morning and has inspired her to become a more avid hiker during her travels. When not on the clock, she can be found hunting for mid-century furniture, practicing yoga, and exploring the culinary delights of the city.

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Alix holds a B.A. in International Relations; African Culture and Politics as well as an M.A. in International Relations and Religion specializing in African Islam. She currently resides in Brookline with her ever-expanding plant collection.

Jennifer is a Cambridge mother of three who enjoys commuting on foot and by mass transit. She's been around since the inception of Green Streets and enjoys promoting it wherever she goes. "I like working with Green Streets because I believe that we really can make the world a better place one commute at a time and I want our city (and our world) to be safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and scooter-ers and healthier for everyone."

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A former magazine editor and health writer, Jen is currently a screenwriter whose first short film, "Soul Candy" was recently produced.

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As a member of the Board, Jen oversees Green Streets' grant writing and is involved in visioning, strategic planning, and collaborating on messaging.

Patrica M. Nolan has lived in Cambridge for our 25 years and loves that it is easy to use public transit and bikes throughout the city.  She supports the mission of Green Streets wholeheartedly and is inspired through her involvement to push herself to do more car-light living.   

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Patty grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and New York before finding Cambridge - by attending Harvard-Radcliffe College.  After stints living in NY (another fantastic city for public transit and biking), New Haven CT and Chicago, she returned to Cambridge where she made use of her Master's degree at Yale University's School of Management, in a range of enterprises. Patty has broad experience in strategic planning and financial budgeting, serving in a range of positions since graduate school.

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Patty sees environmental sustainability as THE issue of our times, and praises GSI for working on supporting healthy living choices AND addressing the urgency of the climate crisis.  
 

Bill originally became involved with Green Streets as the Walk/Ride Day coordinator at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, a participant in the Commuter Challenge since it's inception in 2012. He  joined the Green Streets board in December, 2018 and is the lead for the Program Management Committee.

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Bill graduated with a BA in Environmental Science from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2005, and a MA in International Relations from UMass Boston in 2018. Over the past 12 years he has worked in the environmental sector in a variety of capacities, ranging from environmental health and safety to conservation and natural resource management.

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Bill has lived in Boston for five years now and he started biking again for the first time since he was a teenager when he moved to the city.  He loves being able to explore greater Boston by bike and is also very grateful that he can commute to work most days this way!

Nitya is a manger in Global Submissions Management at Takeda Pharmaceuticals, where she has been employed since 2014. Having always been passionate about environmental causes, Nitya joined Takeda's internal eco-awareness group called Evergreen. As a member of that team, she started working with the Green Streets Initiative to help plan Walk/Ride Day communications to encourage participation by Takeda employees. She joined the Green Streets Initiative Board in December 2018 as a member of the Business Development Committee.

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Nitya has been car-free since 2011 and enjoys using all modalities for transportation to work and other frequently visited locations. Her favorite method of commuting to the office is walking as it provides a nice opportunity to disconnect for a few moments and take in some fresh air!

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Nitya's educational background is in Chemistry (BA), Environmental Studies (BA), Pharmacology (MS), and she is now pursuing her second graduate degree (Regulatory Affairs, MS). In her free time Nitya enjoys traveling, yoga, volunteering, and reading.