Reinvent Albany was founded in January 2010. Its founders include prominent members of New York’s environmental, transportation and urban sustainability movements.
Reinvent Albany has an experienced and knowledgeable staff of policy experts and advocates, most of whom have worked in state government in New York and elsewhere. Our staff is advised by our policy fellows, prominent New Yorkers with special expertise and accomplishment in specific areas of public policy. We also rely on expert consultants government, academia, labor, business and the public interest world. We also work closely with watchdog and advocacy groups across New York and national transparency, democracy and anti-corruption organizations.
Staff
John Kaehny is the Executive Director and a founding board member of Reinvent Albany. John has won numerous improvements to New York government transparency and accountability, NYC Open Data Law — the world’s first open data law — and data.ny.gov. John has testified before congress, the NY State legislature and New York City Council and served on city, state and federal government advisory bodies. Previously, John ran a consultancy centered on parking and street management and before that was longtime executive director of Transportation Alternatives.
Rachael Fauss, Senior Policy Advisor, has more than fifteen years of experience in state and city budget and public policy analysis and is an expert on conflict of interest and ethics issues. Rachael leads Reinvent Albany’s work on ethics, governance, transparency and budget issues. Previously, Rachael worked at Citizens Union and the New York State Assembly. Rachael has an MPA from Rockefeller College at SUNY Albany.
Tom Speaker, Legislative Director, joined Reinvent Albany in 2018 and managed its successful campaigns for a Database of Deals and clean contracting in New York State. He has worked extensively on ending irrational corporate subsidies, passing public campaign finance, and increasing NY government transparency. Previously, Tom was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia and a teacher in Japan.
Stephanie Jala-Thorne, Director of Operations, guides strategic planning and continuous improvement and manages Reinvent Albany’s large pool of consultants and internal systems. Previously she managed core teaching programs at Columbia Medical School.
Policy Fellows
Jon Orcutt, Senior Policy Fellow, was Senior Policy Advisor for the NYC DOT during the Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations and among other things led efforts to create New York’s Citibike bikeshare. Jon is a top expert on all aspects of urban transportation policy and helped shape the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO). Jon is a lifelong bicycle commuter and former executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and Transportation Alternatives.
Board of Directors
Aaron Naparstek, President and founding board member, is a principal at Proving Ground Media and is the founding editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Aaron lectured on urban land-use and transportation planning and public policy at MIT and Harvard and his writing has appeared in many prominent media platforms. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @Naparstek.
John Kaehny, Executive Director and founding board member.