Let us introduce the speakers

James T. Brett is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The New England Council, the nation’s oldest regional business association. Mr. Brett was appointed to this position by the Council’s Board of Directors in October 1996.

Under Mr. Brett’s leadership, The New England Council has become the region’s premier business advocacy and networking association. During his tenure, revenues have grown significantly and membership has increased tenfold. The organization has expanded its programming offering events annually throughout the six New England states and in Washington, DC. The Council is widely respected by business leaders and policymakers alike for its non-partisan, consensus-based approach to policy advocacy. As a result, in recent years, Mr. Brett has led the Council’s successful and impactful federal advocacy on a wide range of critical economic issues, including energy, financial services, healthcare, education and workforce development, technology, transportation, trade, and more.

Prior to joining the Council, Mr. Brett served for 15 years as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. During that time, he served as a chairman of several of the most influential committees in the Massachusetts legislature, including the Committee on Banking, the Committee on Taxation, and the Joint Committee on Congressional Redistricting. As a State Representative, Mr. Brett’s legislative priorities included providing tax relief for key Massachusetts industries, creating high-wage jobs, developing, and retaining a skilled workforce, and fostering an overall business climate that supports economic growth and prosperity for all residents.

Mr. Brett has been a lifelong champion for people with disabilities. In May 2022, President Joe Biden appointed him to serve as the Chairman of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID) and reappointed him as Chairman in 2023. He previously served on PCPID under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, including a term as Chairman from 2011 – 2013.  In 2016, Congress appointed him to the National Council on Disability and served as Vice Chairman.  He is currently Chairman of the Governor’s Commission on Intellectual Disability, and Chairman of the Massachusetts Disabled Persons Protection Commission. In 2013, the University of Massachusetts Boston established the James T. Brett Chair in Disability and Workforce Development, the nation’s only endowed chair in disability and workforce development.  In 1996, Bay Cove Human Services of Boston named a new community home for disabled adults “Brett House” in his honor.

In the past decade, Mr. Brett introduced a proposal to the White House for a savings plan for families of individuals with disabilities to save for the future. After moving through the Legislative process, the Federal Government passed the Able Act creating a savings plan for people with disabilities for future education, training, living expenses and other supports.

Dan is the Chief Operating Officer at MAPFRE USA.

He joined MAPFRE USA in 2006 and served as General Counsel and Secretary from 2008 until his appointment as the company’s Chief Operating Officer in 2024.

Dan is a member of the Board of Directors of MAPFRE USA. He also serves on the Board of the Massachusetts Insurance Federation where he is the past President. Prior to MAPFRE, Dan was a litigation partner at the Boston law firm of Nutter, McClennen & Fish, and is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Providence College.

Jaime Tamayo has been President & CEO of MAPFRE North America since 2021, a position he previously held from 2008 to 2016, at which time he assumed the role of CEO, International Territory, for MAPFRE Group in Madrid, Spain. Under his leadership in the U.S., the company solidified its market position in Massachusetts, where MAPFRE is the largest auto, homeowners and commercial auto insurer.

He has held several executive positions at MAPFRE in the United States, Spain and Puerto Rico since joining the company in 1993. MAPFRE North America encompasses the operations of MAPFRE in the United States and Puerto Rico.

As Chief Representative of Fundación MAPFRE in the United States, he has led a number of important initiatives related to the foundation’s five action areas: road safety and accident prevention, including fires, mishaps at home and drownings; insurance and social protection; culture; social action; and health promotion.

Fundación MAPFRE is a global non-profit organization dedicated to the betterment of society. By partnering with like-minded organizations, Fundación MAPFRE helps to make a difference through education, outreach and funding of important community programs. In the United States in 2023,  Fundación MAPFRE provided over $1.4 million in funding, impacting approximately 57,000 beneficiaries who use these programs.

Álvaro has over 20 years of experience in road safety. He began his career as a researcher at the Universidad Politécnica of Madrid and later joined the Directorate-General for Traffic in 2010. There, he held various positions, including Research Engineer at the National Observatory, Head of Division at the Subdirectorate-General for Statistical Analysis and Monitoring, Deputy Director-General for Research and Analysis, and Director of the National Road Safety Observatory.

He has served as the Technical Secretary of the Ibero-American Road Safety Programme/OISEVI, a cooperation programme of the Ibero-American General Secretariat. In this capacity, he was involved in the Ibero-American Road Safety Observatory.

Álvaro’s focus is on developing indicators and statistical analyses related to road traffic accidents, promoting research and innovation in road safety, and contributing to the development of plans and strategies. He also serves as Secretary of the Higher Council for Road Traffic, Road Safety, and Sustainable Mobility, and actively participates in national and international working groups.

Secretary Tibbits-Nutt is responsible for four divisions of MassDOT: Highway, Rail and Transit, Registry of Motor Vehicles and Aeronautics. As Secretary, she also serves on the Massport and MBTA Board of Directors.

Prior to her appointment, Ms. Tibbits-Nutt served as Undersecretary of MassDOT where, among other responsibilities, she led the effort to stand up the Office of Transportation and Climate Planning and Policy. She also served on the MassDOT Board of Directors and as the Vice-Chair of the Fiscal Management and Control Board (FMCB) that oversaw the MBTA.

Ms. Tibbits-Nutt was also the Executive Director of the 128 Business Council, a transportation management association and regional service provider that builds privately funded, cooperative public transportation routes throughout the Route 128 West Corridor.

Areas of specialty include regional and transportation planning, urban design, and transit equity. In both her work and research, she is particularly interested in capitalizing upon every opportunity to better educate transportation stakeholders and the public about all aspects of the planning process. As part of this focus on education, she serves as the Vice President of the non-profit Youth Engagement Planning (YEP!), which brings urban planning and community advocacy into K-12 environments.

Ms. Tibbits-Nutt is an active member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a LEED Accredited Professional in Building Design & Construction with the U.S. Green Building Council.

Dr. Mooney has been the Trauma Medical Director at Boston Children’s Hospital for 25 years and has been involved in the development of pediatric trauma care and pediatric trauma systems in the US, much of it based on motor vehicle safety, during that time.

Cathy’s commitment to and passion for advocacy was forged through personal experience.  In 2003, her then 12-year-old daughter was struck by a hit and run drunk and drugged driver while walking home from her bus stop.  A traumatic brain injury altered her life and all those who knew and loved her forever.  Living with the consequences of a negative choice, a Foundation was created to give her daughter’s name and philanthropic spirit a voice and an opportunity to make a positive impact.

A tireless Highway Safety advocate, Cathy volunteers her time working alongside law enforcement, policy makers and community leaders.  Cathy lends her voice to inspire young people throughout her state and beyond to think about the impact of their choices.  She advocates for services for the disabled and raises awareness for traumatic brain injury.  Realizing there is a choice in every moment, finding the courage to make a difference and sustaining hope for the future, she works to level the playing field in underserved communities helping to alleviate food insecurities, provide resources and support secondary education opportunities to break the cycle.

The Tori Lynn Andreozzi Foundation (TLAF) has the opportunity each year to present Community Conversations and Pre-Prom Presentations.  TLAF is invited to speak at Drivers Training classes, in health classes, college residence halls and orientation programs.  It is an honor to be invited to speak to graduating law enforcement academies and to present at leadership and as part of professional training and to corporations/businesses regarding overcoming the obstacles in your path.

Karin Valentine Goins, MPH, combines public health practice and research with a focus on community-level transportation and land use to support active living. At the Prevention Research Center at UMass Chan Medical School, her projects include building capacity of public health and community stakeholders to improve physical activity opportunity and reduce injury by engaging in transportation and land use decision making.

A longtime walking and biking advocate, Ms. Goins co-founded WalkBike Worcester and serves on the City’s working groups for the Mobility Action Plan and Vision Zero plan, the Advisory Committee of the Central Mass Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the Massachusetts Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board.

Raquel is originally from Nicaragua and has worked in the third sector for over fifteen years. Her professional career has evolved in youth-led and youth-focused organizations working on poverty, sustainable cities & communities, and youth and children’s rights.

Raquel is currently the Executive Director of Youth for Road Safety (YOURS). Together with thousands of young people worldwide, YOURS is making a difference in building a safer and more sustainable mobility system for future generations.

Oliver Carsten is Professor of Transport Safety at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds. His major research focus is on driver interaction and safety with driver assistance and automation systems. He led the UK national project on Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) and had a role in persuading the EU to regulate ISA into all new vehicles. He is an advisor to PACTS, the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety. He has provided advice on safety policy to the UK Department for Transport and to the European Commission, especially on behalf of the European Transport Safety Council. He was a member of the European Commission’s GEAR 2030 High-Level Group on the future of the European automobile industry.

He is heavily involved in international regulatory activities on vehicle automation both on the road user side where he is a member of the Informal Group of Experts on Automated Driving (IGEAD) under UNECE WP.1 (The Global Forum for Road Traffic Safety) and on the vehicle side as a member of a series of informal groups under UNECE WP.29 (The World Forum for the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations), contributing in particular on how automated systems should interact with users. He also leads an informal group of human factors experts on automation under the auspices of the International Ergonomics Association, with the aim of providing human factors advice to international regulators in the area of automation.  He is editor-in-chief of the academic journal Cognition, Technology and Work.

Kris runs The Lab@MassDOT. Likes bikes, people, buses, trains, stories, and difficult problems. Also likes to make movies. Loves cities. Learned how to share in kindergarten, still perfecting his practice. Alum of AmeriCorps, Tufts, Villanova, and The City of Boston. Work recognized by the Federal Labs Consortium, Cities for Service, IDC Smart Cities North America, American Planning Association, and an assortment of film festivals and others. Civil Engineer, Urban Planner, and Dad. Firm stances on parking, equity, and bagging my own groceries. More flexible stances on parenting styles, because, well, it’s not easy.

David Zipper is a Senior Fellow at the MIT Mobility Initiative, where he examines the interplay between transportation policy, technology, and society. He is a Contributing Writer at Vox and Bloomberg CityLab.

Anders Lie is specialist in traffic safety, now mostly retired. He has mainly been working for the Swedish Transport Administration. He has held his position there from 1995 to 2018. In 2019 and 2020 he worked at the Swedish Ministry for Transport. There he was responsible for the program of the 3rd Global Ministerial on Road Safety held in February 2020. Anders Lie has a PhD in Epidemiology from Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Anders Lie has been an active partner in the development of the Vision Zero.

From the start until 2018 he has represented Sweden as a board member in the Euro NCAP crash test co-operation. Anders Lie has been active in the development of a Management System Standard for Traffic Safety (ISO 39000). Anders Lie has also been appointed as a part-time adjunct professor at Chalmers University of Technology. From his retirement, Anders Lie has worked part time for AFRY developing the FIA Road Safety Index.

Dane Eifling began working at the City of Fayetteville in 2014 as the City’s first Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator. From 2018-2020 Dane served in a joint role as the Bike/Pedestrian Coordinator for both the University of Arkansas and City. In 2020, Dane began a full-time role as the City’s first Mobility Coordinator with responsibilities including transit, micro mobility, traffic calming, walkability and bicycle network planning. Dane is a Fayetteville native; he serves part time in the U.S. Navy Reserves and has a BA in Human Geography from San Francisco State University.

Chris Dempsey’s career has spanned the public, private, and non-profit sectors. He served as Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, where he co-founded the MassDOT open-data program, which made the MBTA the first transit agency on the East Coast to make available smartphone applications that tell riders when their bus or train will arrive. Chris has worked as a Consultant with Bain & Co., and led North American business development for Masabi, a mobile-ticketing company whose customers include the MBTA, New York MTA, Los Angeles Metrolink, and other large transit agencies.

He was named “Bostonian of the Year” by the Boston Globe Magazine in 2015 for his volunteer work leading the grassroots campaign No Boston Olympics. From 2017 to 2021 he led the state’s largest transportation advocacy coalition. Chris has represented his hometown, Brookline, as an elected Town Meeting Member since 2012. He also served as Chair of the Transportation Board, which oversees the municipality’s transportation policy.

Chris appears regularly on WBUR’s Radio Boston and WGBH’s Boston Public Radio, and he has been quoted in dozens of national and local news outlets, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, for his expertise on transportation, infrastructure, and politics. He lives with his wife, Anna, and daughter, Sarina, and has never owned a car.

Jascha Franklin-Hodge serves as the Chief of Streets where he oversees the City’s Public Works and Transportation Departments. He supports the delivery of high-quality essential city services and works to implement Mayor Wu’s transportation priorities, including reliable, affordable transit service, safer street design in every neighborhood, and a connected network of low-stress bicycle routes.

Prior to joining the administration, Franklin-Hodge was the Executive Director of the Open Mobility Foundation, a foundation that helps cities collaborate with the private sector to develop open source tools and data standards that work towards a safe, equitable, and sustainable transportation system. He previously served as the City of Boston’s Chief Information Officer from 2014 to 2018, and led the City’s Department of Innovation and Technology. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, focused on mobility, technology, and public policy, and a consultant to the private sector on new mobility and smart cities. Previously, Franklin-Hodge co-founded Blue State Digital which powered the digital presence of President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns.

Franklin-Hodge studied computer science at MIT. He lives with his husband and two young kids in Jamaica Plain, and travels mostly by bike and public transit.

Frank is a policy and project manager at the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC). He works on policy, notably connected and automated driving as well as vehicle technologies, and was involved in the work on the technical details for intelligent speed assistance systems and advanced driver distraction warning systems. He also manages the LEARN! project on traffic safety and mobility education.

Bonnie Polin is the State Safety Engineer at MassDOT. She oversees the Highway Safety Improvement Program, the Strategic Highway Safety Plan, and many other aspects related to roadway safety and the broader safety management system. She brought the Safe System approach to MassDOT and is actively working on a number of strategies to reduce fatalities and serious injuries on all roadways. Her favorite aspect of this work is to impart knowledge so informed and effective decisions can be made. Bonnie’s keen interest is to research and test out new safety applications while understanding the tie-in between behavior and infrastructure. Prior to joining MassDOT, she was a traffic engineer at Bruce Campbell & Associates. She holds a BA in Theoretical Math and a MS in Civil Engineering from Columbia University.

Samuel Madden is a College of Computing Distinguished Professor of Computing and head of the Computer Science division in the EECS department at MIT. His research interests include databases, distributed computing, and networking. Research projects include learned database systems, the C-Store column-oriented data- base system, and the CarTel mobile sensor network system. Madden heads the Data Systems Group at MIT and the Data Science and AI Lab (DSAIL), an industry supported collaboration focused on developing systems that use AI and machine learning.

Madden was named one of Technology Review’s Top 35 Under 35 in 2005 and an ACM Fellow in 2020, and is the recipient of several awards, including an NSF CAREER award, a Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the ACM SIGMOD Edgar F. Codd Innovations Award, and “test of time” awards from VLDB, SIGMOD, SIGMOBILE, and SenSys. He is the co-founder and Chief Scientist at Cambridge Mobile Telematics, which develops technology to make roads safer and drivers better.

Jay A. Winsten, Ph.D. teaches communication strategies in Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, and directs Project Lookout, a U.S. road safety campaign. From 1985-2020, he served as Associate Dean and Frank Stanton Founding Director of the Center for Health Communication (CHC) at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The first university center devoted to health communication, CHC launched the first mid-career fellowship program for journalists who cover public health and medicine; offered graduate coursework in health communication; tested strategies to harness the power of mass communication to advance the public’s health; convened scholars and practitioners to examine the influence of mass communication on public policy and social norms; and published recommendations for the design of effective health campaigns.

CHC became widely known for its U.S. Designated Driver Campaign to prevent alcohol-related traffic fatalities and injuries. Launched in November 1988, the campaign demonstrated how the designated driver concept could be imported from Scandinavia and rapidly diffused through American society via mass communication. The campaign marked the first successful effort to mobilize the Hollywood creative community to support a pro-social cause. Within four years of the campaign’s launch, the Roper Poll found that 52% of Americans under 30 had served as a designated driver or been driven home by one; among frequent drinkers of all ages, 54% had been driven home by a designated driver. Alcohol-related road fatalities declined by 24% between 1990-1994; non-alcohol-related traffic fatalities increased by 1% over the same period. The campaign, along with other factors, contributed to the decline. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported, “Many grant makers say it was the success of the campaign that persuaded them that skillful work with news and entertainment media can bring about social change.”

From 1997-2015, CHC spearheaded a national media campaign in collaboration with MENTOR: National Mentoring Partnership to recruit volunteer mentors for young people from underprivileged circumstances. The annual number of young people matched with volunteer mentors through local programs grew from 300,000 in 1997 to over 3.5 million a decade later.

He is the author of numerous technical articles and has written a book called “Planes estratégicos de seguridad vial. Fundamentos y casos prácticos” (Strategic road safety plans. Rationale and practical cases), another entitled “La Seguridad Vial en las empresas. Programas Internacionales de Promoción” (Road Safety in Companies. International Promotion Programs) and he is co-editor of another one entitled “Así lo hicimos: Del Infinito al Cero” (This is how we did it: From Infinity to Zero).

In October 2019, the Spanish Directorate General for Traffic distinguished him with its Medal for Road Safety Merit. One year later, in 2020 he was awarded with the Order of Merit of the Spanish Civil Guard (White Badge Cross).