Commute Options Team
Meet our Staff
Brian Potwin
Executive Director
Brian's Bio
Brian has lived in Central Oregon since the year 2000 and loves to ride bicycles and work with community. Working for Commute Options since 2008, Brian has learned many techniques for outreaching and engaging community in Central Oregon. Brian works with Oregon Safe Routes to School, ODOT, City of Bend, City of Redmond. He is passionate about creative change and promoting community health, active transportation and a vibrant local economy.
Marika Tammaru
Safe Routes to School Coordinator
Marika's Bio
As the Safe Routes to School Coordinator for Commute Options, Marika educates and encourages Central Oregon children and parents on the benefits and safety of biking and walking to school.
Marika graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in environmental science and Spanish, where she discovered a love for biking and sustainable transportation solutions. In her free time, she enjoys running, skiing, gardening, and camping.
Lara McCormick
Rogue Valley SRTS Coordinator
Lara's Bio
Lara grew up in Southern Oregon where she developed a love of the outdoors from a young age. She worked as a photographer and was a small business owner for over 20 years. For the past 8 years she has been working in the outdoor industry in numerous capacities. Lara holds a BICP certification for mountain bike instruction, a Schwinn Cycling Instructor certification, and is also a Shimano S-Tec certified bicycle mechanic. Her passion for the outdoors, for living a healthy lifestyle, and especially all things bike, has been the driving motivator.
As a Southern Oregon native, Lara brings her insight of the communities she grew up in to her role as the Rogue Valley Safe Routes to School Coordinator. She believes in the value of inspiring wellness in youth as a way to a healthier community and in turn, promoting a cleaner environment. When she’s not riding her bike you can find her backpacking, cross country skiing, cooking up some yummy food, or exploring the west coast by van.
Whitney Bennett
Education Program Manager
Whitney's Bio
As the Education Program Manager for Commute Options, Whitney educates and encourages Central Oregon children and parents on the benefits and safety of biking and walking to school.
After receiving a degree in Environmental Studies at University of California Santa Barbara, she pursued sustainability planning at CalPoly San Luis Obispo and received her Masters in City and Regional Planning. Once out of school Whitney resided along the west coast, working as an environmental and land use planner until the mountains and rivers pulled her up to Bend, Oregon.
Throughout her career she has been an advocate for integrating active transportation through urban design, education, and collaboration. Whitney has also worked as a wellness educator, working with kids and adults to incorporate more healthy mobility into their daily lives. Working with the SRTS program places Whitney within her passion, where she offers families simple shifts to make in daily transportation habits that can make positive impacts on their lives, the community they live in, and the future of our planet.
LUCY STOUT
Communication & Program Coordinator
Lucy's Bio
Lucy holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon, where she focussed on sustainable living solutions. Lucy regularly uses her bike or walks to commute around town and is passionate about educating drivers to share the roads respectfully. Lucy oversees communications at Commute Options, supports Oregon Friendly Driver, and coordinates the Vanpool Program. In her free time she’s usually skiing.
Carina Forsell
Education Assistant
Carina's Bio
Aoibhe Richardson
Transportation Options Coordinator
Aoibhe's Bio
As the Transportation Options Coordinator for Commute Options, Aoibhe aims to reduce single-occupancy vehicle use in the Central and Eastern Oregon regions by leading outreach and education to employers, employees, and local communities.
With a Master of Public Health from the University of San Francisco, and undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Portland, Aoibhe brings a strategic, people-centered approach to transportation challenges. Originally from Kilkenny, Ireland, Aoibhe moved to Bend in 2023 and fell in love with the trails, nature, and active transportation infrastructure. In her free time she loves to run and seek out new restaurants and coffee shops. “
Indigo Larson
Active Transportation Programs Manager (Oregon Safe Routes to School & Vanpool)
Indigo's Bio
Indigo graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in city planning and nonprofit management in 2018. It was there that she became passionate about community development, resiliency and sustainability which ultimately led her into the realm of alternative transportation. In her free time she enjoys baking and cooking, biking, skiing, camping and taking road trips. She’s excited for a new adventure and exploring all Bend has to offer with her dog, Eddie.
Meet the Board
Mark Russell Johnson - Secretary
Mark's Bio
Jovi Arellano - Ex officio member
Jovi's Bio
I have made Central Oregon my home and worked in local government at the City of Bend for 20 years before moving to ODOT to serve as Regional Transit Coordinator for Region 4 (The Dalles to Klamath Falls). As a Regional Transit Coordinator, I am charged with assisting transit agencies with state processes and creating connections to enhance community travel options. On the personal side, I love getting together with my grown children whenever I can. When not at work, you will find me hiking the mountain trails, traveling around Oregon, or walking with my dogs.
NEIL BAUNSGARD - BOARD CHAIR
Neil's Bio
Neil had been living in Bend since 2015 and has always been drawn to medium sized towns like Bend for their easy bike and pedestrian access. He has been a bike commuter since he and three friends started a bike pool back in the fourth grade. He further expanded his experience in planning, economics, and environmental policy at Western Washington University. Neil currently works at the Environmental Center on increasing the adoption of clean technology in Central Oregon, particularly focused on electric transportation. He is excited to envision a future of improved mobility of all forms and electric power helping accelerate that change.
Jerry Huegel
Jerry's Bio
Jerry grew up in upstate New York, riding BMX and road bikes and hiking and skiing in the
Adirondack Mountains. In 1987, he bought his first Trek 850 mountain bike, started a college
mountain bike club, and has been an avid mountain biker since. After a stint as a “ski
entrepreneur” at Snowbird, Utah, he moved to Bend in 1999 with his wife and started working
as a 5 th Grade Teacher with the Bend-LaPine School District. While teaching 5 th Grade, Jerry
started working with Commute Options through their Safe Routes to School program. An
advocate of bike commuting and keeping kids safe on our roads, he began working with
community members such as REI, Bicycle Resource and the Bend Police Department, organizing
Bike Rodeos and Walk and Bike to School events. “Educating kids how to safely commute on
their bikes is critical to creating life-long riders and keeping more cars off our roads.”
Marshall Greene - Treasurer
Marshall's Bio
Marshall Greene is best known around Central Oregon as the 7x winner of the Pole, Pedal, Paddle multi-sport race, but he’ll be the first to tell you that has nothing to do with why he joined the Board of Commute Options. Having spent many years as part of the lycra-wearing crowd, first as a cross-country ski racer and then as a bike enthusiast, Marshall spent two years in Madison, WI getting his Masters Degree in Population Health. While there, he learned about how a city’s built environment—in particular, it’s streets—can shape the health of a community by improving its fitness, reducing local pollution, and building social capital. While in Madison, Marshall also learned to love the bike paths of Madison by becoming an avid bike commuter. To all the naysayers who think it is too cold in the winter for active transportation in Central Oregon, Marshall recommends a visit to Madison in January to see the lines of people riding in the cold Wisconsin wind and snow.
“I want the streets to be safe for my kids to ride their bikes and and to advocate for vulnerable users of the road. As a healthcare data analyst at a community health center (Mosaic Medical), I also see that many of Central Oregon’s most at-risk populations—people experiencing homelessness, who are out-of-work, or physically disabled—are not able to drive and instead rely upon public transportation and biking to get around. By advocating for safer streets with Commute Options, I hope” to help reduce at least one stress for these Central Oregon residents.”
