Leaders of the
New Mobility
Revolution

Carlos A. Gimenez is the Mayor of Miami-Dade County – Florida’s most populous county. He is Miami-Dade County’s highest-ranking elected official and chief administrator, who oversees a metropolitan government with more than 28,000 employees, and an annual budget of approximately $8.9 billion that serves 2.8 million residents.

Since assuming office in 2011 after a special election, Mayor Gimenez has continued to consistently hold the line on tax increases while pressing for more technology and innovation in County initiatives. Gimenez championed and secured approval for the largest tax cut in County history eight years ago, and collectively Miami-Dade taxpayers have saved more than $1.9 billion during his tenure. To date, the average homeowner has saved approximately $1,700 in property taxes.

Gimenez was re-elected as Mayor in 2012 and again in 2016 for two consecutive four-year terms. He brings with him more than 40 years of public service experience.

Among the County’s 25 departments that Gimenez oversees are the two largest economic engines in South Florida – PortMiami and Miami International Airport. He also oversees the County’s public safety departments, including Miami-Dade Police, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, Corrections, and the Medical Examiner’s office. Collectively, between the airport and seaport, Miami-Dade County welcomes more than 50.5 million passengers a year, with the two facilities supporting more than 610,000 jobs throughout South Florida, either directly or indirectly.

Alice N. Bravo, P.E., was appointed Director of Miami-Dade Transit in July 2015. In February 2016, Ms. Bravo was appointed Director of the of the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW), which merged the County’s Transit and Public Works functions under one department.

DTPW operates the 15th largest public transit system in the United States, and the largest in Florida. This includes the Metrobus fleet that runs approximately 28.9 million miles through most areas of Miami-Dade County; the electrically-powered, elevated, 25-mile rapid transit Metrorail system; the 4.4-mile elevated Metromover; and the paratransit service (Special Transportation Service) that meets the needs of the disabled.

The Department also manages the County’s roads, traffic signals, bridges, canals, sidewalks, street signs, lights and stormwater drainage.

Throughout her career, Ms. Bravo has managed numerous diversified public-private partnership projects including the $1 billion PortMiami tunnel; the innovative I-95 Express Project; and the $550 million S.R. 826-S.R. 836 interchange reconstruction project. These projects have helped improve commuter mobility throughout Miami-Dade County. Ms. Bravo also oversaw a $573 million capital improvement program at the City of Miami, and was responsible for implementing the city’s trolley circulator system.

Ms. Bravo is a licensed Civil Engineer with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami and a Master’s in Business Administration from Florida International University.

Seleta Reynolds has over 17 years of transportation experience throughout the United States in both the public and private sectors. Prior to her current position, Seleta was a leader in the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Livable Streets section, coordinating streets projects citywide.

B.A. American History, Brown University.

Carlos Cruz-Casas, P.E. is the Assistant Director of Strategic Planning for Miami-Dade County’s Department of Transportation and Public Works. His primary focus is to introduce mobility innovation and plan for a fully integrated transportation system. His career includes both public and private sector experience ranging from conceptual design to implementation of pedestrian, bicycle, transit, and traffic projects. As a professional engineer dedicated to the development of Livable Transportation, Carlos seeks to achieve the right balance between capacity and livability. Carlos received his Master’s degree in urban transportation planning from University of Florida’s College of Engineering, and his B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico.

Julia recently joined Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office, where she is liaison to the transportation technology community, and drives public-private initiatives focused on mobility innovation. Previously, Julia led Innovation and Technology for Cities at Siemens US, managing a team of designers, engineers, and researchers in consulting, development, and implementation of infrastructure technology projects. Projects were cross-sector, spanning energy, mobility, buildings, and the Internet of Things (IoT) and ranging from planning for electric, autonomous, and shared mobility, to designing use cases for data platforms and advanced analytic applications. Julia has authored more than 20 publications on the topic of technology and cities; has been featured in FastCo, Quartz, Washington Post, and CityLab, among other media outlets; and has been recognized as a subject matter expert and as a young leader by universities and organizations in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, DC. She holds a Master’s degree in City Design, with Distinction, from the London School of Economics & Political Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Summa Cum Laude, from Emory University in Atlanta.

Tomás is CEO and Co-Founder of Tembici, the largest micromobility company in Latin America. The company is present in the main capitals of Brazil such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, in addition to Santiago in Chile and Buenos Aires in Argentina. Tembici is a Latin American company helping with urban mobility solutions in Latin America. Currently, the company makes more than 2.5 million rides a month with his shared bicycles and has increased 100% the number of users between 2018 and 2019. Graduated in International Relations from Fundação Álvares Penteado / SP (FAAP), Tomás is also a member of the board of the Institute for Leadership Training since 2014.

Since being elected mayor in a record turnout election in April 2010, Mayor Steve Benjamin has made it his mission to create in Columbia the most talented, educated and entrepreneurial city in America.

In addition to serving as Mayor of Columbia, Mayor Benjamin also served as the 2018-2019 President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and as Chairman for Municipal Bonds for America, Member of the Federal Communications Commission’s Intergovernmental Advisory Committee, Member of the Accelerator for America Advisory Council and Co-Chair of the Mayors for 100% Clean Energy campaign.

Mayor Benjamin is married to the Honorable DeAndrea Gist Benjamin, Chief Administrative Judge (Common Pleas) for South Carolina’s Fifth Judicial Circuit. The two are the proud parents of daughters Bethany (14) and Jordan Grace (11).

Karina Ricks formally served as the Director of Transportation Planning for the District of Columbia before becoming the Inaugural Director of the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure. The Department of Mobility and Infrastructure purview includes design and implementation of a “complete network”; resiliency projects around landslides and flooding; policies and programs to manage emerging transportation including shared services and autonomous vehicles; and strategies to address long term sustainability. A graduate of Cornell University, Michigan State University, and a Fulbright Scholar.

Greg Lindsay joined NewCities in June 2015 as Senior Fellow to lead our Connected Mobility Initiative. Greg is a journalist, urbanist, futurist, and speaker. He is a non-resident senior fellow of The Atlantic Council in their Strategic Foresight Initiative. He is also a contributing writer for Fast Company, co-author of Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next, a visiting scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, and a research affiliate of the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI). His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and Fortune, among many other publications. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in journalism.

Mark de la Vergne serves as the Chief of Mobility Innovation for Mayor Mike Duggan and has been in the role for two years. He is tasked with bringing new mobility services and technologies to Detroit residents. In 2018, this included a first/last mile pilot with Lyft, expanding car share to the neighborhoods of Detroit, overseeing the deployment of 1200 e-scooters and an autonomous shuttle service for the largest employer in Downtown.  Over the next year, his office will explore connected technology at signalized intersections, launch a new microtransit service, and implement mobile payment for all transit in the Detroit region. Prior to joining the City, Mark worked with cities across North America on transportation projects as a consultant. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.