Who We Are

What started as a personal effort to stay out of her car during Newport’s busy summer season became a full-time effort to help Newport become the bicycle friendly community it is destined to be. After two years as a volunteer coordinator, and thanks to the generosity of local foundations and funders, Bari became the Executive Director of Bike Newport in 2012. She brings to Bike Newport more than 25 years of experience in the non-profit sector where she worked to build collaborations and to optimize resources. Bari has led initiatives on women’s health, civil rights, and financial services regulation, before turning her focus to bicycle advocacy. Now it’s all about getting more folks to choose bikes for local transportation – no parking, no quarters, and no spandex required!

Harley is a long time bicycle enthusiast with many miles travelled. He has ridden the Trek across Maine sixteen times, cycled Oregon, and bike commuted for many years in Washington DC. In 1974 he rode through Rhode Island on a bike ride from New York to Cape Cod.

 An environmental advocate, Harley has spent over 35 years in wind and solar energy and sees a similar benefit from reducing car travel through expanded bike use. Harley is bringing extensive business and entrepreneurial experience to his role as Development Director at Bike Newport.

A firm believer in the power of stories as catalysts for social change, Brian is excited to bring his interests in community partnerships, environmental issues and storytelling to the Bike Newport team. After growing up in Connecticut, Brian first came to Rhode Island to attend Providence College and is proud to make RI his new home. He previously worked at Social Enterprise Greenhouse in Providence, and has extensive experience fostering strong relationships and partnerships among nonprofits, businesses and individuals. He is thrilled to work with many different organizations to make Newport a more bike-friendly city.

Niko brings 20 years of experience in corporate and nonprofit offices to Bike Newport. She’s a dedicated consensus and capacity builder who believes that we all succeed when we build strong communities. A local rider with three kids on bikes, too, Niko is excited to help correct perceptions of cyclists, to help raise the profile of bike riding, and to build more biking as a transportation and equity solution. The result – more and more people on bikes, and everyone of eeyr walk of life seeing themselves reflected as they pedal around town. In Niko’s words, “Newport is a good place to provide safe, efficient and well connected bike travel – we are part of the national shift to choosing bikes to get to work, school and play.” Niko is pictured with her “threenager” who swears she’s grown up and is thrilled every time she can bike with her mother.

Bio to come

Liza Burkin grew up with a family of cycling enthusiasts, annually cheering on her dad, uncle, aunt, and cousins at the Pan Mass Challenge. It wasn’t until attending the University of Wisconsin in ultra bike-friendly Madison, however, that the bike bug really bit. In Madison, riding a bike became a cultural focal point– not just a means of getting to class on time. She is thrilled to apply her degree in Journalism and Mass Communications to cycling advocacy and nonprofit program management.

After more than two years as Bike Newport’s Program Manager, Liza now shares bicycling stories with us from the saddle of her Surly in other cities and on other continents.

Liza is also the founder of Women Bike RI, a statewide community of women bicyclists with the mission of closing the gender gap in cycling and encouraging more women to ride.

Bio to come

Bike Newport Volunteer of the Year in 2015, Pat is always generous with his time and spirit. Pat can be found nearly 365 days of the year on an assortment of road, folding, fat tire, and mountain bikes. If there’s a Bike Newport ride, chances are that Pat is happily sweeping. In addition to being an avid cyclist, Pat loves to sail for fun and in all the local regattas. A retired NUWC Systems Engineer, Pat lives in Middletown with his wife, Janet. He has two grown boys, both engineers, and four grandchildren with a fifth on the way.

Bio to come 

Colin is an avid bike rider and all-around outdoors enthusiastic. He rides because it’s the cleanest, fastest way to get around Newport. Having grown up outside Boston and ridden around the cities of New York and Washington DC, he seeks to advocate for rider safety and improved road infrastructure in densely populated areas. You can find him in the Bike Garage wrenching or out on the road trying to make the machine attached to his feet go faster.

Steve built his first touring bike at the East Quad Bike Co-op in Ann Arbor, Michigan and then promptly road it across the state. He’s since embarked on many longer treks, including a 1000 mile tour from Michigan to Vermont. Steve calls Aquidneck Island home, living in Newport and working as an environmental consultant in Middletown where he’s helping to establish the nation’s first offshore wind farm. He’s never far from the Bike Garage, where he spends many hours getting greasy and lending a hand to others. Steve led the bike brigade that restored a fleet of bikes for visiting ballet dancers to Island Moving Company, where his wife Tara is a principal dancer. Not just a bike geek and windmill junkie, Steve is also a talented graphic designer – creator of the famous Giant Squid of Narraganset Bay that adorns Bike Newport’s signature jersey and many other feisty and fun illustrations for Bike Newport. 

Art likes working on and riding bicycles.  He is presently a Professor of Oceanography at the Graduate School of Oceanography, URI and has been involved in many areas of earth and planetary science research.  Art has managed bicycle shops and been active in community bicycle organizations all around the country. He is an avid cyclist and enjoys bike touring at any opportunity. He particularly enjoys helping people learn bicycle mechanics by advising them on how to fix their own bikes. At Bike Newport, Art regularly volunteers at the Open Garage and mentors several student interns from the East Bay MET School.

Michael grew up in rural Foster, R.I. As a youth, he spent countless hours riding a mountain bike or BMX. While living in Providence, he bought his first road bike for commuting and has been doing so ever since.

Michael has been a bike commuter in different regions of the U.S. Upon moving to Colorado for a job as a snowboard instructor, he noticed cycling infrastructure which made it easier, safer, and more enjoyable than that in place here in Rhode Island. It is a goal of Michael’s to improve the cycling infrastructure here in Newport for a number of reasons, including a decrease in automobile traffic congestion, noise and emissions, as well as an increase in community connectedness and health.

 

With four years under his belt at Bike Newport, Brandon is our senior MET School intern. Already a skilled mechanic, Brandon is a wealth of information for Bike Garage participants of every skill level. Brandon enjoys sharing his passion for bikes and biking when he teaching safety and riding tips to youth at the Bike Library on many Saturday mornings. He also serves as a resident consultant member of Newport Health Equity Zone Transportation Committee.

Chair

Dawn Euer has been an activist and organizer all of her life. In 2007, she moved to Rhode Island to attend law school at Roger Williams University School of Law. After leading the public interest law efforts and formalizing an alternative spring break program at the law school, she graduated in 2010. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Marine Affairs degree at the University of Rhode Island and makes her living as a political and non-profit consultant.

Dawn is an experienced coalition builder and problem solver. After graduation, Dawn began working for Marriage Equality Rhode Island. Her efforts helped change the conversation in the state, leading to passage of historic marriage equality legislation in May 2013. In early 2014, she won a union election with the Community College of Rhode Island’s adjunct faculty members. Dawn has a passion for biking and the outdoors and is excited to help work towards making Newport a more bike friendly city. When she is not spending time working, she loves to hang out with her pit-bull, Penny at the beach or the dog park.

Laura Murphy has been working for the Preservation Society of Newport County for 20 years in the retail division. Laura hooked up with Bike Newport when Trudy Coxe, the Director and CEO of the Preservation Society, asked her to represent them at the meetings. She was impressed by the organization and decided to give 100% of her volunteer time to Bike Newport. Laura is an avid horsewoman, but also rides her bike to and from work. When she lived in Washington D.C., the trek was 12 miles each way. Today it is a mere 3 miles to and from work! But as Laura says it relaxes her, gets in her exercise, and takes one more car off the road.

Sarah was a bike commuter early on, biking to school in her hometown of Washington, DC – up to the highest point in the city.  When she lived in Southeast Asia with her family, her fondest memories were biking through the rice paddies and back roads of Vientiane, Laos. Sarah has lived and biked in Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, New York, Baton Rouge, and suburban Baltimore, and was never so inspired to get back on a bike as she was when she moved to Newport with her family five years ago.

Allison has been riding since she could walk, racing/touring/commuting the roadways of Rhode Island and the world beyond. A program-managing IT guru/broadband maven, she is a League Certified Instructor who is devoted to getting people on bikes. She is thrilled to be a part of the bike movement in Newport.