RTC Staff Profiles
Elton Clark
Manager, Human Resources
"Riding a bike, or hiking on a trail, is when I am the happiest camper in the world," says Elton Clark, who keeps RTC's D.C. office running smoothly as its human resources manager.
Before joining RTC, Elton worked in human resources for the Smithsonian Institution and The Close Up Foundation in Alexandria, Va. And though he was born in North Carolina and lived in Germany for a period, Elton has spent much of his life little more than a bike ride from the nation's capital.
He leapt at the chance to work for RTC, attracted by the opportunity to contribute to bike advocacy efforts.
In this dynamic nonprofit, he gets to step from behind his HR desk and roll up his sleeves for a variety of other tasks. In the past few years, Elton rode and documented many miles of trails as part of RTC's trail-mapping initiative, and he assisted the Trails & Greenways Team with the grand opening of the Met Branch Trail.
Elton has a few strings to his bow, including a degree in Commercial Art and Design, and he enjoys painting and drawing. His other love, besides biking?
"Travel," he says. "I have seen some fantastic places."
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Jake Lynch
Manager, Communications
With his worldly possessions in the back of an old Subaru, Jake Lynch drove from Seattle to D.C. to join RTC in the spring of 2011.
A newspaper editor by trade, Jake had spent the last 10 years living in and writing about small towns and young cities across his native Australia and, later, in western Washington.
Though the bushland, rivers, bays and national parks were always an important part of his life growing up, it wasn't until Jake moved to Seattle in 2009 that he began to appreciate the vital work being done by land conservation and sustainable planning nonprofits in America. It was work he felt immediately drawn to, and during the past few years, volunteering as a communications consultant for nonprofits began to take over the newspaper work.
Jake first heard about RTC while working with the Mountains to Sound Greenway in Seattle, and is very pleased to join their communications team during an exciting time.
"It feels like a period of great opportunity for rail-trails," he says. "It's RTC's 25th Anniversary, outdoor recreation is more popular than ever, and people are looking for better ways to get from A to B, wherever they live."
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Kelly Pack
Director, Trail Development
Kelly Pack still remembers her first ever rail-trail experience—as a young child she and her family completed the long bicycle ride along the Cranberry Rail-Trail in her home state of West Virginia.
It was an experience that would inspire her as an adult, as Kelly is now director of trail development for RTC, helping bring to fruition the trail aspirations of community groups across the country.
After earning a Master of Science degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Resources from West Virginia University, Kelly became very active as a community organizer and project coordinator, working with local watershed organizations, trail and greenway planning initiatives, pedestrian and bicycle advocacy groups, and a regional brownfield redevelopment program.
Lately, Kelly has been the driving force behind some of RTC's most innovative and successful work, including fostering a local community of ownership around the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Washington, D.C., promoting urban rail-trails as critical public health amenities, and helping the people of New Orleans stay connected to plans to redevelop the Lafitte Corridor.
And she still enjoys riding her bike, in the city and the country; Kelly recently completed the 330-plus mile journey from Pittsburgh, Pa., to D.C. on the Great Allegheny Passage and C&O Canal towpath.
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Timothy Rosner
GIS Specialist
In order to help bicyclists and pedestrians all over the country find and use the rail-trails in their community, we rely on a fast developing technology called Geographic Information Systems, or GIS.
We also rely on GIS experts like Timothy Rosner, who has been working with GIS professionally since 2005. His experience includes data collection, processing and analysis within the GIS context, and he has worked on projects for both government and private industry clients.
Timothy came to RTC in 2008 with a strong background in using GIS in public/private partnerships, working with private developers, civil engineers, professional surveyors, environmental scientists, cultural resource specialists and community representatives. These days, his expertise in GIS, digital mapping and gathering accurate trail data is one of the keys behind the enormous success of TrailLink.com, RTC's free trail-finder website.
Though Timothy keeps very busy verifying and adding new, accurate maps to TrailLink.com for our members, he somehow managed to find time this year to complete a Master of Science degree in Geographic and Cartographic Sciences.
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Steve Schweigerdt
Manager of Trail Development, Western Regional Office
Steve Schweigerdt is one of those lucky people whose job is closely connected to their greatest pleasures—biking and trails.
Prior to coming to RTC, Steve worked in urban forestry and infill development, and he was constantly exploring ways in which he could educate urban communities on how to make his hometown of Oakland, Calif., greener and more connected to nature.
It was a nexus of passions perfect for RTC, and when he joined our Western Regional Office in 2009 as trail development manager, he was particularly excited about opportunities to make urban areas walkable and bike-able.
"I love that I can take a trail from my place in Oakland up to the regional park trails that feel like a wilderness, with steep canyons and redwoods," he says.
A self-confessed adrenaline junkie, when not helping local communities and governments develop their own rail-trail projects he is bombing down hillsides on his mountain bike. His next challenge: helping his young daughter shed her training wheels.
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Tom Sexton
Director, Northeast Regional Office
If Pennsylvania had its own Environmental Hall of Fame, Tom Sexton would surely be in it. His resume of conservation and alternative transportation initiatives reads like an awards introduction, and RTC is very pleased to have Tom heading up our Northeast Regional Office in Camp Hill, Pa.
Having studied the environment, planning and geography in college, Tom's early career included working as a recreation planner for the National Park Service, and as a naturalist in New York City. His passion for preservation soon led him toward the political arena, as a congressional staffer for the 1st District of Maryland. He then established the Pennsylvania office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, where he served as executive director.
Tom joined RTC in 1991, the same year he founded the Environmental Fund for Pennsylvania. In the early 90s he was the lead advocate for Transportation Enhancements (TE) to be allocated to local projects, and he led the effort to protect unused rail bridges and tunnels, which resulted in an 18-month demolition moratorium by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
Since then, Tom has been instrumental in leading RTC's policy, promotion and trail-assistance efforts across 10 states in the Northeast.
Tom is the author of several regional guidebook, and he served as co-chair of the 1997 Pennsylvania's Governor's Conference on Greenways and Trails. He was also co-chair of the 1999 International Trails and Greenways Conference in Pittsburgh.
Tom founded, and now directs, RTC's Greenway Sojourn, a trail-building program and multi-day bicycle tour that since 2002 has led more than 3,000 bicyclists on rail-trail excursions in the Northeast.
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Sarah Snyder
Coordinator, TrailLink.com Audit
Sarah Snyder has a photo album that would be the envy of most travelers. Beginning her career as a field biologist for the U.S. Forest Service in Montana, Sarah soon realized she had a passion, and talent for, writing about the unique landscapes she was seeing, and educating the general public about the great outdoors.
After adding a Masters degree in journalism to her two science degrees, Sarah embarked on a second career that most of us can only dream about: leading wildlife tours in Australia, Micronesia and Botswana, managing forests and unique habitats in Scotland and Senegal, and writing and editing guidebooks on some of America's most stunning locations.
This last role made her the perfect person to tackle the difficult job of auditing our new TrailLink.com database. Sorting through descriptions of the tens of thousands of existing rail-trails across America, Sarah's job is to make sure TrailLink.com is accurate and up-to-date, to help users get the most from their rail-trail adventures.
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Kartik Sribarra
Director, Policy Outreach
Kartik Sribarra, RTC's director of policy outreach, is one of those people who came out of college knowing he wanted to make a positive impact, but he was unsure exactly what form that would take. After some diverse experiences, including helping prisoners in New York State acclimate to life after incarceration, Kartik had his moment of epiphany in Portland, Ore. It was there he saw the enormous impact the built environment, and the policies and culture of transportation, has on day-to-day life.
"That was the first time I fully realized the importance of 'place'," he says. "And that we have the opportunity to influence that—how a community feels, how it functions."
The eye-opener in Portland inspired Kartik to undertake his master's degree in urban and regional planning, which was followed by employment with a bicycle and pedestrian planning firm.
Now, Kartik is one of the key components of RTC's success in building a broad coalition of trail and active transportation supporters across the country, enormously important work given the current political threat to funding for non-motorized transportation.
"It has been great to see in recent years that support for trails, biking and walking is expanding from its traditional base," Kartik says. "Now, businesspeople, health organizations and educators are some of our strongest advocates."
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Paul Turaew
Coordinator, Development
There are probably many creative cooking analogies that aptly describe what RTC is, and who the people are that make it tick … phrases about a cornucopia of freshness, a wide array of ingredients making a fun and healthy dish, and a flavor for every palate! Rail-trails, and the people behind them, are as diverse and colorful as the produce section at your finest food market!
This is not something we had thought much about until we heard our development coordinator, Paul Turaew, explaining the career progression that bought him to RTC in early 2012. Working toward a graduate degree in law, the New York native spent his formative professional years working with government agencies and nonprofit organizations.
"After law school, I began to see the value in a career that would promote a more balanced life—something to give my right brain a little more exercise," he says. "I knew I wanted to work with passionate individuals, people who were connected to the work they were doing. I enjoyed spending time outdoors and recognized a deep appreciation for a healthy environment and way of life. So, like the magical flavor created by rolling together the ingredients of a good burrito, I combined these interests and found the perfect role here at RTC."
You've got to love a burrito analogy! Bravo!
A technophile, wannabe surfer and (clearly) a cooking enthusiast, Paul has been accused of being an Apple evangelist, of not coming in out of the rain, and of spending too much time in his local Williams-Sonoma store.
"I happily plead guilty to all charges," he says.
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Karl Wirsing
Director, Communications/Editor-in-Chief, Rails to Trails Magazine
Karl Wirsing started out as the editor of a small weekly newspaper in rural South Dakota—about 170 miles from the family farm where he spent summer vacations as a kid. Each June, his family would make the long drive from Columbia, S.C., for several months of horse riding, swimming and fun.
As the primary writer and photographer for the Pioneer Review, Karl covered everything from high school football games and the prom to features on the town cat and a local yak rancher. In Philip, a town of about 850 people, he also coached varsity cross-country, junior high boys' basketball and assisted with track.
After his time at the Pioneer Review, Karl attended graduate school for creative writing at Emerson College in Boston, Mass.
In 2007 he moved down to Washington, D.C., to join RTC, where he is now director of communications and editor-in-chief of Rails to Trails magazine. In his time here, Karl has greatly enjoyed exploring, photographing and writing about rail-trails across the country. He has had the enormous privilege of meeting countless passionate and inspiring trail supporters at every stop, and working with many of them on magazine stories and other projects.
Some of his favorite trips include rail-trail destinations in Prescott, Ariz., Missoula, Mont., and Des Moines, Iowa.
Karl has many loves—hiking, nose-burning IPAs, South Carolina football—and his heart remains with community journalism. He dreams of someday owning a small-town newspaper just like the one where he first began his career.
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