Bio
Heidi Simon joined Smart Growth America in February 2023 as the Director of Thriving Communities.

Prior to Smart Growth America, Heidi most recently served as a Senior Program Manager of Mobility Safety Strategy at the National Safety Council (NSC), where she managed the Road to Zero Coalition—composed of more than 1,500 stakeholders committed to reducing traffic fatalities to zero by 2050. She also developed new opportunities in communications, programming, and strategy for NSC’s Roadway Practice focused on emerging issues within the field.

Heidi brings over five years of experience working in advocacy, communications and programming related to mobility, with an emphasis in active transportation. She began this work with the pedestrian advocacy organization, America Walks, and has focused her career on addressing mobility independence through the creation of safe, active and accessible places to move and travel.

Originally from Milwaukee, WI, Heidi holds degrees from Loyola University-Chicago and George Washington University. She currently lives in Washington, DC with her husband, son, and dog.

Bio
Since joining the AARP Maryland Executive Council in 2019, Mr. Conway has spearheaded the state office’s work in Howard County on safe streets and partnership with the Maryland Department of Transportation’s Walktober campaign. In 2019, AARP sponsored his Walking Fellowship through America Walks and since then, he has focused much of his work on the importance of walking for seniors.

Mr. Conway has served as the face and voice of AARP Maryland’s outreach on voter engagement, COVID vaccinations, and healthy living on television, radio and social media. For his contributions, he was honored with AARP Maryland’s Communications Volunteer of the Year award. Currently, Mr. Conway is leading the state office volunteer onboarding and engagement, working to build volunteer teams in regions across the state.

Prior to his retirement in 2017, Mr. Conway spent 43 years in surgical device sales for three major companies and two start-ups. His professional honors include numerous sales excellence achievement awards, including sales representative of the year and several regional manager of the year awards. He spent 23 years in senior management positions, including national sales manager, director of sales and vice president of sales.

Bio
Kori Johnson serves as the Program and Engagement Manager at the Safe Routes Partnership. In this role, Kori provides technical assistance to communities across the country that are working to advance safe and equitable transportation options. Kori’s personal and professional journey centers on building accessible, inclusive, community- driven spaces that elevate underrepresented voices. Her practice also incorporates arts-based community engagement methods. She has worked on community engagement initiatives in New York City, the Washington, D.C. Metro, and the Bay Area. Kori lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Bio
Cynthia Spriggs is the Program Manager for Pedestrian/Bicycle/Speed/Aggressive Driving for MVA’s Highway Safety Office. As a program manager, Cynthia oversees several highway safety grants focusing on pedestrian and bicycle safety. She currently chairs both the Speed/Aggressive and Pedestrian/Bicycle Emphasis Area Teams. Cynthia is a child passenger safety technician as well as a CarFit technician. She is passionate about keeping our vulnerable population safe while traveling whether in a car or by other means of walking or rolling. Prior to working at the Maryland Highway Safety Office, Cynthia was a Baltimore County Police Officer for just over 21 years. During her tenure as an officer, Cynthia worked patrol, outreach, and traffic management. One of her favorite things to do as an officer was traffic safety outreach to the young citizens within the community.

Bio
Betsy (Elizabeth) Schultz has been teaching for the Howard County Public School System for 23 years. She currently works as an elementary Physical Education Teacher and runs the HCPSS Bike Education Program for the county. Betsy leads her school Wellness Committee for Students and Staff to provide a variety of opportunities for wellness throughout the year. Betsy started a weekly Walking School Bus program at BSES in 2012 to get more students, staff, and families to move before the school day by walking and biking to school together every Friday throughout the year, which also helps to support active transportation in the school community. Betsy serves on the board of Free Bikes 4 Kids Maryland, along with being on the board for Bike Hoco.

Bio
Duwan Morris is a well versed leader in pedestrian and bike safety, outreach and education and Safe Routes to School. He has managed Safe Routes to School programs across the region including Baltimore City and his current role with the Montgomery County Department of Transportation. Through his work, he has helped make walking and biking more appealing to students through his innovative and fun outreach approach. Some of his most successful programs include Walking Wednesday, Pedestrian safety art contest, bike rodeos and the first ever Montgomery County Safety Day. Duwan and his team has worked diligently to partner with 47 schools, distribute 600 free helmets, participate in 248 outreach events and reach over 75,000 residents in 2023. The ingredients to his programs success are partnerships, relationship, innovation and sacrifice.

Bio
L. Dara Baldwin, born in Torrejon, Spain to parents involved in serving their country, the desire to serve has continued through her education and current career journey. Currently she is the Director of National Policy for the Center for Disability Rights, Inc. She works within the Disability Justice movement centering Black Indigenous People of Color and with an intentional strategy to end racism and systems of oppression. She has a BA in Political Science from Rutgers University, and was a Pi Alpha Alpha honors Graduate with a MPA from Rutgers University the School of Public Affairs and Administration.

Bio
Mike (he/him) got his start in local politics as a neighborhood activist pushing for walkability. From there he founded a non-profit focused on sustainable and equitable growth, and then became mayor of Seattle. He has always worked to add new voices to City decision-making and has gained deep insights into how influence is gained and wielded to make change. Just before joining America Walks, Mike worked to help Feet First, Washington State’s walking advocacy organization, expand their sphere of influence across Washington state. He has worked on numerous public education, legislative, ballot measure and election campaigns – which has given him an abiding faith in the power of organizing and volunteers to create change. His many years of advocating for sustainable cities and environmental justice give him perspective to expand America Walks partnerships.

Bio
Francine Waters, Multimodal Transportation Specialist in Active Transportation of the Environmental & Sustainable Transportation Program for the Maryland Department of Transportation, is a Transportation Planner, Demand Management and Marketing Specialist with over thirty years of experience both in the private and public sector. A member of NAIOP Leadership Committee, Leadership Montgomery and most recently a graduate of Leadership Maryland. Ms. Waters created, developed, and launched Maryland’s first WALKTOBER campaign in 2020, to raise pedestrian awareness across the State and is the project lead for the first in the country statewide Sidewalk Data Collaboration.

Bio
A GIS veteran with over 29 years of experience across government and private sectors, Mr. Stevenson leads the National GIS and Asset Management Practice at TranSystems (formerly WBCM). He also serves as the GIS Program Manager for Maryland's State Highway Administration (SHA) within their Office of Information Technologies (OIT). In this role, he champions the One Maryland One Centerline (OMOC) program alongside various other GIS initiatives.