SVBC Staff

Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) hired its first staff member in 2005 and has quickly grown. Today, we have many staff members working with our members and volunteers to increase bicycling in our area.

Anthony Montes, Associate Director of Advocacy and Development
anthony@bikesiliconvalley.org

Born and raised in the South Bay, Anthony knew at an early age his passion to improve his community would lead him to a career in public service. His first organizing experience came in high school when he and other students planned the iMatter campaign, a school-wide walkout opposing cuts to teaching staff in public schools in the wake of the Great Recession.  

After spending two years serving as a Field Representative for Congressman Earl Blumenauer in Portland, Oregon, spearheading outreach to local stakeholders and developing policy, Anthony joined SVBC to fulfill a lifelong mandate: to serve communities in the Bay Area.  

In his downtime, you can find him halfway into a West Coast India Pale Ale or German Pilsner, or in the foothills hiking on the weekends. 

Clarrissa Cabansagan, Executive Director
clarrissa@bikesiliconvalley.org

Clarrissa is currently transitioning into the role of Executive Director, to replace the departing Shiloh Ballard, with the handoff to be completed Aug. 24.

Clarrissa was born and raised in the borderlands between San Francisco and Daly City – where her family has been for 4 generations. She comes to the Bike Coalition with close to 15 years of experience in transportation justice and immigrant rights.

Most recently, Clarrissa was the Program Director at TransForm, a Bay Area-wide mobility justice organization, where she led the advocacy team to advance transportation policies and pilot projects that center the needs of Black and Brown residents, as well as the building of affordable housing near transit. Her equity advocacy efforts alongside bike coalitions and grassroots groups shaped how the micromobility industry now approaches low-income access.

She is passionate about working with government and private partners to implement community-driven ideas. In this vein she decided to make the jump to support bike advocacy as SVBC’s Development Director, with high hopes to elevate the power of the bike in undoing the impacts of climate pollution and systems of oppression.

Clarrissa got her start in mobility justice work pushing back on bus service cuts with the Bus Riders Union in Los Angeles and Urban Habitat in Oakland, and helping call out the racism in fare evasion policies which led to programs like Free Muni for Youth.

Outside of work Clarrissa is learning to be a barista of sorts and roasts coffee on her stovetop. Her bike camping crew is called Team Ombre Legs for the gradient tans you get while riding and rolling up your shorts (check out #teamombrelegs on Instagram). Most days Clarrissa can be found with her one-eyed pup, Poppy, walking along some portion of the coastline between Pacifica to Ocean Beach. She is a proud Bear to Bruin, holding a BA in Ethnic Studies with a minor in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley, and a Masters in Urban Planning with concentration in Transportation Policy and Planning from UCLA.

Kyle Klimas, Education Programs Coordinator
kyle@bikesiliconvalley.org

As a lifelong Bay Area native, Kyle has spent most of his life riding bikes in the Peninsula and living in San Mateo County. As he continues to live and ride in San Mateo County, he knows just how much of a positive impact cycling can bring to the local community. Starting his professional journey as an entry-level bike mechanic, to then working his way into shop management, and eventually into industry programs and operations, he’s had a wide range of roles and responsibilities all involving the humble bicycle. From those experiences, teaching others about the joys of bicycling and getting people stoked about riding has always been a constant.

Whether he’s out cruising local MTB trails or riding his single speed around town, cycling has always provided a sense of identity and passion for Kyle. His love for the bicycle has led him to joining SVBC to further spread his joy and knowledge of bicycling, while also being able to give back to the local communities that have made him the cyclist he is today.

Collin Lim, Volunteer & Events Coordinator
collin@bikesiliconvalley.org

Collin Lim comes to SVBC with over 20 years of experience serving on the planning committee of the American Diabetes Association's walk-a-thons and bicycle tours. His volunteer roles with the ADA include Route Chair, Safety Chair, Logistics Chair, Radio Communications Chair and City/County Liaison. He also ran the planning committee for a number of years. Prior to joining SVBC, Collin worked in various high tech fields: semiconductor, electronics, web design and web development. The companies he worked for range from large corporations to small startups.Collin discovered SVBC from volunteering in the Eastside Connect program delivering farm boxes on bikes to low-income East San Jose residents.

Outside of work, Collin enjoys hiking and cycling. His favorite hiking and mountain biking spots are along the ridge of Santa Cruz Mountains. He also enjoys cycling along Bay Trail and the many creek trails in Silicon Valley.

Deanna Chevas, Director of Finance and Administration
deanna@bikesiliconvalley.org

Deanna Chevas comes to SVBC with a background in small business and nonprofit bookkeeping, HR, and administration. She also spent a year helping build a nonprofit organization doing outreach and advocacy. Deanna has a fine art degree with an emphasis on fiberart. She moved from Arizona in 2014 with her cat and her teenage daughter. She has lived car-free since then and enjoys bike commuting, taking other peoples' dogs for walks, knitting, and cooking.

Diana Crumedy, Associate Director of Advocacy and Community Development
diana@bikesiliconvalley.org

Diana Crumedy comes to SVBC with a background in Urban and Regional Planning and Community Development and Design. She did her undergrad in Sociology, followed by a Master's in Urban and Regional Planning. Diana has years of experience working within municipalities at the local and regional levels. Diana’s years of hands-on experience have provided her with a depth of knowledge in community design and development, policy planning, analyses and implementation, land use, regional planning, zoning, and environmental review. 

She has worked in various sectors, like community development, engagement, and organizing. As you can tell Diana is passionate about all things community-focused. As a community organizer, she has 9 years of experience advocating, researching, organizing, developing, and leading campaigns around societal issues such as Pedestrian and Bicyclists Safety, Affordable Housing, Living Wage, Ethnic Studies, and accessible, affordable, and quality education.

With her experience implementing community organizing and campaign advocacy strategies, she is thrilled to continue working with diverse communities and about working as a bike advocate for the communities in Santa Clara County.

Eleni Jacobson, Program Manager
eleni@bikesiliconvalley.org

Eleni grew up in San Mateo County riding bikes for fun and transportation. After completing 3 years at College of San Mateo, bike culture drew Eleni to Davis, CA, where she studied Environmental Policy. She was still living in Davis when she first got involved with SVBC as a part-time bike parking supervisor. She has done professional and personal work in the field of Transportation Demand Management since 2015.

Bike culture and the lovely bike people of Santa Clara County made it a natural choice to move to San José in 2019. SVBC rides and programming, San José Bike Party, and bike mechanics classes are some of her favorite parts of what San José has to offer to those on two wheels. She is excited to join the Bike Coalition full-time and work hard to introduce others to the timeless joy and health that biking has always brought to her. 

Emily Parent, Communications Officer
emily@bikesiliconvalley.org

Having lived many lives in Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, and her current home Silicon Valley, Emily is constantly in pursuit of interesting experiences and opportunities to find and build meaningful connections within her community. With five years of experience in non-profit community management and after nearly 10 years of telling stories through multiple mediums — including podcasts, film, and the written word — she joins the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition as Communications Officer with a driving motivation to empower the humans of her local community. When she’s not working, you can often find Emily and her partner at the local farmers market or exploring the quiet parts of the Bay Area by bicycle or roller skate. She is constantly in search of good plant-based restaurants, fun vinyl stickers, and friendly stray cats.

Heather Wolnick, Community Organizer
heather@bikesiliconvalley.org

Heather brings experience working in local government from her previous role as a public construction attorney with the City and County of San Francisco. Her passion for biking and walking advocacy has grown over the past few years, especially in the area of Safe Routes to School, when her children started attending public school. In addition to improving conditions for all walkers and bikers, Heather sees an urgent need to change the restrictions our children face moving around our public spaces independently. As one of the SVBC San Mateo Team leaders, her support was integral to the implementation of the North Central Bike Lanes project, which will add bike lanes on key east-west and north-south routes in San Mateo that are responsible for 11% of all bike-related collisions in the city in the past 5 years.

Jianhan Wang, Education Programs Manager
jianhan@bikesiliconvalley.org

Learning to ride a bicycle was the earliest experience Jianhan had that went from being painful, difficult, and frustrating over repeated falls and leg scrapes to joyful, magical, and something he felt proud of. After many years of riding, he took his first two bike classes which were organized by Bike East Bay and learned a lot more than he expected in how to ride safely and more confidently for transportation, something he thought was essential and should be taught as part of standard school curriculum. He took his bike instructor’s recommendation to become an League Cycling Instructor (LCI) and has enjoyed teaching hundreds of folks of various ages to level up their bicycle skills and confidence from learning to ride to riding on streets and roads as well as complementary topics like theft prevention at on-bike classes and presentations organized by various organizations in the Bay Area including Bike East Bay, SVBC, and SFBC as well as private lessons over the past nearly 6 years and counting. Jianhan started his journey with SVBC as a member of the LCI Squad and joined SVBC full-time to increase his impact to help more people enjoy riding bikes for transportation and to a lesser extent, recreation. He would love for you to join a class, a ride, or another event! Feel free to reach out to him about anything you are curious about or want to engage in. His mission is to help people enjoy riding bicycles more for transportation.

Aside from education and rides, Jianhan has volunteered and represented Alameda County on the BART Bicycle Advisory Task Force for 6 years. He has also been a bicycle security nut and been working to help clarify and simplify the process for people to easily secure their bikes. He has a Bachelor’s degree in business and certificates in engineering design and sustainability.

Outside of bike-related work and fun rides, Jianhan enjoys learning for personal development, playing board games, going on occasional hikes, cooking, and reading.

Karen Schuler, HR Generalist
karen@bikesiliconvalley.org

Karen has a background in nonprofit management, having spent 20 years as Director of Finance and Human Resources for an independent Montessori school. Karen happily landed at SVBC in search of an encore career at an organization that promotes equity and sustainability. Karen has engaged in social and environmental justice work since she was a teenager providing logistical support for her parents as they participated in non-violent civil disobedience to end the nuclear arms race.  Karen is an animal lover and has volunteered at the local animal shelter and rescue organizations.  In her free time, you can find her hiking through the woods or biking local trails.

Katie Causey, Community Organizer
katie@bikesiliconvalley.org

Katie Causey is born and raised in the Bay Area and has volunteered with local nonprofits and community organizations since she was a teenager. After several years of working in various local nonprofits and on political campaigns she began focusing on housing, working with tenants facing eviction and shaping policy and community engagement around Palo Alto's Housing Element.

Outside of her work at SVBC she enjoys taking public transit and raising her 35 house plants.

Sandhya Laddha, Deputy Director
sandhya@bikesiliconvalley.org

Sandhya moved to the United States in 2018 from India. Starting her journey as a Volunteer at Transform and Greenbelt Alliance, she joined SVBC in 2019 with a personal passion of discouraging use of private vehicles. After serving as the Advocacy-Programs coordinator, San Mateo County advocate and Policy Director, she is now the Deputy Director overseeing the Advocacy Team efforts and supporting the Executive Director in various capacities.

Sandhya holds an undergrad degree in Architecture and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from India. Her diverse experience spans rural development, parking, and urban street design. Outside of work, she finds joy in dancing, hiking, camping, and embarking on adventures with her toddler.

Scott Brown, Communications Director
scott@bikesiliconvalley.org

Scott brings to Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition a strong background in communications, built first as a reporter and editor with five California newspapers, and then in digital media and marketing.

As a boy in Fresno, rising at 3 am to deliver the San Francisco Chronicle by bicycle, Scott fell under the spell of the world’s daily human story. He went on to major in journalism at San Jose State University, and to work in newsrooms in the Central Valley, Ventura County, Los Angeles County, the East Bay, and then at the San Jose Mercury News, before taking digital leadership roles at AltaVista, Netscape, Stanford and Silicon Valley Bank. As a life-long cyclist, Scott has pedaled widely around California, and most of the Continental Divide trail from Mexico to Canada. He’s also an active volunteer, with past engagements in literacy, food distribution, political campaigning and economic development movements, as well as with SVBC.

Scott’s especially passionate about the power of communications, bicycles, home-cooked meals with friends and family, and dogs, to solve almost any of the world’s problems.

Mayra Pelagio, Community Organizer
mayra@bikesiliconvalley.org

Prior to joining SVBC, Mayra was the Executive Director of Latinos United for a New America where she worked to accomplish the organization’s mission to help Latino immigrants take positive action to address the poverty-related challenges that have hit the Latino immigrant community. At SVBC Mayra will advocate for safer streets and communities where everyone can feel safe walking and biking in their neighborhoods Mayra taps into her own experience of facing poverty, language barriers, and housing instability as she works to promote advocacy from East San Jose neighbors. Mayra holds a B.S in Environmental Science and Management from UC Davis and has completed a master’s degree in environmental studies from San Jose State University.

Violeta Palatto, Engagement and Development Officer
violeta@bikesiliconvalley.org

Violeta comes to the SVBC from 14 years of involvement in parent participation schools, both as a long standing preschool board member (way past her own children’s preschool years) and coordinating scores of volunteer parents. She is looking forward to applying that experience and skill.

Violeta has experienced the power of biking both for her own health and as a way of raising awareness and fundraising for Multiple Sclerosis. She has completed the Waves to Wine Bike MS ride from SF to Napa 8 times. She loves to climb the many mountains around here on her road bike and the exhilaration of getting to the top.

Violeta has a passion for the environment and making the future a better place for those children she has enjoyed working with. When she isn’t on her own bike or hiking, you may find her carting her kids around or watching their theater or sports games. She is looking forward to carrying on and expanding SVBC’s mission and shifting more of her commute to pedal power.