Jacob manages data collection, reporting, and evaluation for ITDP globally. He specializes in strategic research that drives the conversation about sustainable transportation and development, assessing new technologies and identifying new, quantifiable ways of meeting program goals.

Jacob has been the lead researcher for many of ITDP’s most recognized publications, including the Bike Share Planning Guide, the BRT Standard, and A Global High Shift Cycling Scenario and Three Revolutions in Urban Transport, quantifying the multi-trillion-dollar savings in transportation costs and massive reductions in CO2 emissions possible through more sustainable urban transport. He also oversaw the production of ITDP’s People Near Transit report, which developed and measured an international metric for rapid transit coverage, which has since been adopted by city, national, and international governments.

Jacob has been responsible for data collection analysis—and, often, metric development—for ITDP projects worldwide, including a walkability study in five African cities and a BRT project in Nairobi, Kenya. Within the World Bank’s Sustainable Mobility for All program, Jacob co-chairs the Urban Access working group, which is developing sustainable urban transport indicators that are shared across multiple international institutions.

Jacob has a master’s in urban planning from McGill University (Montreal) and a bachelor’s in civil engineering from Columbia University.

Gift Dumedah is an associate professor in the Geography Department, and a senior fellow of the Transport Research and Education Centre Kumasi (TRECK) at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. His interests span transport and mobility research, transport relations with health and the environment, urban dynamics, and Geospatial Information Science and Technology. He holds a BSc. in Geodetic Engineering from KNUST, Ghana; MSc. in Geography from Simon Fraser University, Canada; PhD in Geography from the University of Guelph, Canada; and a postdoctoral research fellow from McMaster University, Canada.

Gina has been a professor in the Department of Anthropology, Durham University, UK.
She has extensive experience of leading interdisciplinary research on everyday mobility
practices among vulnerable groups in diverse African contexts, rural and urban
(including recent research on impacts of Covid-19 in African cities). Her research is
typically conducted in close partnership with a diversity of local stakeholders, and
incorporates a peer research method with training of community members as
co-investigators.

Ricardo Giesen is Director and Associate Professor at the Department of Transport and Logistics Engineering at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC). He is Director of the BRT+ Center of Excellence (www.brt.cl) funded by VREF, and serves as board member of EFE Central (Chilean State Railroad Company, Central subsidiary).  He is a Civil Industrial Engineer and M.Sc. in Transportation Engineering from PUC, and PhD in Transportation Systems from the University of Maryland at College Park. He specializes in transportation systems operations and planning, and public transport systems.

Bernardo Serra (he/his) joined ITDP in august 2023 as policy and climate change manager. He holds a bachelor and a master degree in Economics from the Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and a master in Urban Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Between January 2021 and July 2023, Bernardo worked as Undersecretary for Transport Planning of Rio de Janeiro City. At this role he was responsible for the public transport network planning as well as for the development of public transit terminal and corridors projects. He has led the technical conception, implementation and monitoring and assessment of transport operation and public subsidies for BRT and conventional bus systems. Bernardo was also responsible for the conception and support of the measures undertaken to reformulate the governance of the public transport system in the city, such as the tenders for the transit Ticketing System, the BRT vehicles purchase and operation design.

Previously, he worked with ITDP Brazil as policy coordinator and manager between 2014 and 2020 and has worked between 2010 and 2014 as project manager in sustainability strategy in São Paulo in collaboration with pioneer organizations in the subject such as Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), Accountability, Utopies and Ethos.

Shri Sanjay Kumar Biswal has been serving as the General Manager, Operations at CRUT since July 2023.  In his role, he has led the transformation of “Sarathis” (drivers) to become “Mo Bus captains,” providing essential training in collaboration with Driving Training Institute Chaatia, Odisha. Currently, he is working on spearheading the national government’s initiative of procuring 350 electric buses through the PM Ebus sewa scheme.

With a background in Automobile Engineering from VIT, Pune and an MBA in Finance & Operations, Sanjay Kumar Biswal has made remarkable contributions to government administration in the Transport Department of Odisha since 1999. His dedication to public service extends beyond his official role, as he actively participated in rescue missions during natural disasters and spearheaded initiatives to reduce road accidents. His efforts in the field of road safety earned him an award of excellence from the Chief Minister of Odisha in 2021.

Professor Mitulah is a researcher, educator, and a consultant in the areas of governance, in particular in the area of provision and management of urban services and the role of stakeholders in development. She has been focusing on policies, and institutional dynamics in relation to local level development, including that of devolved governments, Micro and Small Enterprises [SMEs], public and Non Motorised Transport (NMT), gender, youth and media. I have worked in both the public and the nonprofit sector. She is currently the Research Professor of Development Studies at the Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi. She holds a PhD in Political Science and Public Administration from the University of York, UK.