Board, Staff and Fellows
Reinvent Albany was founded in January 2010 by prominent members of New York’s environmental, transportation, and urban sustainability movements.
Reinvent Albany has an experienced team of staff, policy fellows and consultants, many of whom have worked in state or city government. Reinvent Albany works closely with watchdog groups and reform advocates in New York and nationally and frequently consults with policy experts from government, academia, business and labor.
Board and Staff
Aaron Naparstek, President and founding board member, is a principal at Proving Ground Media. Aaron has a degree from Columbia Journalism School and he was the founding editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Aaron is a former Nieman Fellow and lecturer on urban land-use, transportation planning and public policy at MIT and Harvard. Long ago, Aaron was on the staff of Transportation Alternatives
John Kaehny is Executive Director and a founding board member. John has passed dozens of laws in New York City and State and won numerous improvements to government transparency and accountability, including the NYC Open Data Law — the world’s first — and the State’s data.ny.gov. John is a lifelong bike commuter and previously led Transportation Alternatives and a consulting practice focused on parking policy and finance, road pricing, taxis and public transit.
Stephanie Jala-Thorne, Director of Operations, manages all of Reinvent Albany’s internal systems and its large contingent of expert consultants. Stephanie is responsible for leading continuous improvement initiatives and identifying and implementing new technology and management best practices. Previously she managed all facets of core teaching programs at Columbia University Medical School.
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.
Alex Camarda, Senior Policy Advisor, has led campaigns for cleaner, fairer, and more effective New York government for over 20 years at Reinvent Albany and Citizens Union. Alex helped win public campaign finance for New York State, a database of corporate subsidy deals, and major improvements to Freedom of Information Law. Alex also led Charter Communications (Spectrum) efforts to expand broadband access in upstate New York and NYC public housing.
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 government transparency. Previously, Tom was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia and a teacher in Japan.
Policy Fellows
Jon Orcutt, Senior Policy Fellow, is a national expert on urban transportation and has worked in and out of government for decades championing bicycling, walking, public transit and sensible land use. Jon was Senior Policy Advisor NYC DOT during Bloomberg and de Blasio where he led every phase of the creation of Citi Bike. Jon is a lifelong bicycle commuter and led Tri-State Transportation Campaign and Transportation Alternatives.
Ron Deutsch, Senior Policy Fellow, has been an Albany watchdog for over 30 years, and is a consultant to unions, and advocacy and faith groups. Previously, Ron led New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) and the Statewide Emergency Network for Social and Economic Security (SENSES) He is a graduate of SUNY Albany.
Adam Mansky, Senior Policy Fellow, is an attorney who works with state and local agencies across the U.S. to create fair and effective justice reform programs. For many years, Adam was Director of Criminal Justice at the Center for Court (now, Justice) Innovation. Adam is former chair and a current board member of Transportation Alternatives in NYC.
Elizabeth Marcello, PhD, Policy Fellow, is a Doctoral Lecturer at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College. Previously, Elizabeth advocated for greater transparency for state economic development spending and more accountable public authorities on the staff of Reinvent Albany. Elizabeth has a PhD in urban planning from Columbia.
Adrian Pietrzak, Associate Policy Fellow, is a PhD Candidate at Princeton University studying American Politics, urban housing, property taxes and municipal finance. Previously, Adrian was a Research Associate at the Citizens Budget Commission.