Steering Committee

TCAT is directed by a Steering Committee who were either chosen at the February 21, 2008 meeting of representatives of TCAT member agencies or appointed mid-term. A brief bio of each of the current Steering Committee members is included below.

Allyson Amster
Toronto is a long way from Allyson's hometown in suburban New Jersey, but with a BA in urban studies from the New School and an MES in Environmental Policy from the University of Pennsylvania, she couldn't have found a better place to live. Allyson got her start in Toronto's bike scene at Bikechain, where she coordinated the University of Toronto's cycling promotion and education facility. She is currently a second year law student at the University of Toronto.

Elana Horowitz
Elana Horowitz is an urban designer, registered professional planner, and LEED Accredited Professional, with a degree in landscape architecture. She is a member of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals and the Toronto Cyclists Union. She is a devoted cyclist, is a passionate advocate for active transportation, and wants to help Toronto become a truly walkable and bikeable community. Elana has practiced urban design in Toronto for over 10 years in both the public and private sectors. The primary emphasis of her work is on the public realm, transit-oriented development, and active transportation. Elana has been a visiting critic and lecturer to design schools at a number of Canadian universities and is on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighbourhood Development (LEED ND) Canadian Core Committee, which is responsible for overseeing the technical adaptation of the LEED ND in Canada.

Neluka Leanage
Neluka is currently undertaking a PhD and research examining obstacles to implementing active transportation interventions across Canada. Her research also evaluates two global policy trends: interdisciplinary/sectoral collaboration (i.e., environment-health/public health-planning), and the use of overarching policy approaches such as Smart Growth and population health as drivers or incentives for active transportation interventions. Prior to returning to school in 2006, she worked in the federal government for 7 years on environmental-health policy in Canada and in developing countries. Included in this work was managing a national policy-knowledge network on children's health, advising on rural-urban development and sustainability, and administration of a variety of environmental programs in Asia. She has redesigned a national children's program, developed national policy and program evaluations, led steering committees, organized a national conference, contributed to the creation of international agreements, played a role in many research studies and reports and regularly briefed ministers. Between 1997-1998 she worked on three international development projects before joining government: participatory national park planning & evaluation in Sri Lanka; building environmental capacity in Thailand; and documenting project impacts in Kenya and Tanzania. She loves being active out of doors and as a personal trainer encourages people to get moving the easy way (walking and cycling of course)!

Rebekah McGurran
Rebekah McGurran holds a Masters in Environmental Studies and Urban Planning. Rebekah is currently an Environmental Coordinator for a GTA municipality and formerly worked with a non-profit transportation demand management association in Toronto. As a resident of the City of Toronto and an active cyclist, Rebekah has extensive experience with sustainable transportation and advocacy.

Charles O'Hara
Charles O'Hara was a founding member of TCAT in 2006 and currently works for the Ontario government (where he commutes to work by bike every day). He has a PhD in Geography with a focus on environmental policy and politics. Charles has worked in the ENGO community with Smart Commute North Toronto Vaughan and Pollution Probe.

Michelle St-Amour
Michelle is currently a PhD student at the University of Toronto in Linguistics, which has nothing to do with her real passions: active transportation, urban planning, and public policy. She is also an executive of the Graduate Students' Union at UofT, trying to bridge the gap between student politics and public realm issues in Toronto, including active transportation. Growing up in rural Ontario, Michelle was most excited about moving to a big city because she could finally walk and bike to work! Since then, she has dedicated most of her spare time to cycling and pedestrian advocacy to make that wonderful commute even better.

Stephanie Tencer
Stephanie loves cities. She loves walking city streets, exploring city neighbourhoods. She loves the sounds, the smells, the sights and the people. To Stephanie, the city is a hub for creativity, and that continually inspires her. Stephanie is currently chair of the urban design working group of the City of Toronto Pedestrian Committee and an active member of the pedestrian advocacy group, Feet on the Street. She holds a Masters in City Planning from the University of California at Berkeley, where she focused her studies on the planning and design of public spaces.