Show Me The Money: Speaker Information
Lindsay Bayley
Senior Planner, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP)
As a senior planner at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), Lindsay Bayley focuses on equitable transportation and parking policy. She has managed a variety of community planning projects from an award-winning downtown master plan for Illinois’ 2nd largest city to UIC’s Multimodal Transportation Plan, as well as local active transportation plans and parking management studies. In addition to her work at CMAP, Lindsay is co-founder of the Parking Reform Network, a public benefit non-profit organization with the goal of educating the public about parking policy and assisting others with parking reform. She has served as the co-chair of the Chicagoland Complete Streets Coalition and on various local transportation committees. She earned her Master of Science degree in Geographic Information Systems from the University of Redlands in 2004, after spending two years as a Municipal Development Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala. Her undergraduate degree is in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and she worked at the Federal Highway Administration for two years prior to joining CMAP.
Abby Beck
5th Ward Alderperson, City of Batavia, Illinois
Abby received a Master’s in Environmental Science from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas where she focused her research on the balance between urban sustainability and quality of life. After graduation, she moved back to her hometown of Batavia and began volunteering with the Batavia Environmental Commission and WellBatavia Initiative to advocate for better walking and biking infrastructure. She participated in Active Transportation Alliance’s Bike Walk Everytown trainings in 2017 and completed the America Walks Walking College Fellowship in 2018. These experiences gave her both a foundation in planning and policy and a strong determination to make a deeper impact.
Abby received a Master’s in Environmental Science from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas where she focused her research on the balance between urban sustainability and quality of life. After graduation, she moved back to her hometown of Batavia and began volunteering with the Batavia Environmental Commission and WellBatavia Initiative to advocate for better walking and biking infrastructure. She participated in Active Transportation Alliance’s Bike Walk Everytown trainings in 2017 and completed the America Walks Walking College Fellowship in 2018. These experiences gave her both a foundation in planning and policy and a strong determination to make a deeper impact.
Abby is now serving her first term as Fifth Ward Alderwoman and has successfully advocated for a road diet study on Batavia Avenue (Illinois Route 31), removing parking minimums in the downtown mixed-use district, increased funding for new sidewalks, the development of an Active Transportation Plan, and tries to use her seat the table to shift the dominant, car-centric conversation to one that is equitable and sustainable. When not biking or walking, she’s hiking or paddling with The Conservation Foundation as their Senior Advancement Officer.
Maggie Czerwinski
Advocacy Manager, Active Transportation Alliance
Maggie Czerwinski is an Advocacy Manager at the Active Transportation Alliance and has been working in the transportation field for more than decade. She works with advocates, decision makers, and municipal staff to improve walking, biking, and transit options throughout the Chicagoland region. She organizes webinars, networking events, and advocacy training to help individuals and grassroot leaders understand key pedestrian and bicycle policy concepts and build strong, effective advocacy campaigns. Through technical assistance and support, she also works with communities to help staff implement their Complete Streets policies and Active Transportation Plans and build their capacity to better access state and federal funding.
Laura McFadden
Transportation Planner, Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways
Laura McFadden is a planner with the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways, in the Strategic Planning and Policy Bureau. There she manages the Invest in Cook grant program and is part of the team working on Cook County’s forthcoming Bike and Transit Plans. She also works with the programming team to make the Department’s annual budget and multi-year capital improvement program, and on occasion lightly dabbles in GIS.
A wayward Kentuckian, she moved to Chicago in 2009 to attend college at the University of Chicago. She graduated with a degree in Gender & Sexuality Studies in 2013, and later returned to Hyde Park for graduate school, receiving her Master’s of Public Policy with a focus on municipal finance from the Harris School in 2018. Her time at Cook County began as an Applied Data & Governance Fellow through Harris’ International Innovation Corps. Following her fellowship, in 2019 she was officially hired by the County and has been diving deeper into the intersections of transportation policy, municipal finance, and economic development ever since.
Laura Newman
City Administrator, City of Batavia, Illinois
Laura Newman was appointed Batavia’s City Administrator on July 5, 2016. She enjoys serving the community where she lives and that she loves by working to continue the City’s positive growth while bringing fresh new ideas from her experience as a manager, lawyer and executive in the private sector. Prior to becoming City Administrator, Laura was a senior executive with Mitutoyo America Corp., in Aurora. She also has been an attorney in private practice in St. Charles specializing in employment law for both the public and private sectors. She intends to bring what she has learned from these experiences to her leadership role at the City of Batavia in collaboration with staff, elected officials and Batavia citizens to create a better community in the near and long term. “This position has its challenges,” she observes, “but it’s the best job I could ever have imagined.”
Audrey Wennink
Director of Transportation, Metropolitan Planning Council