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Welcoming New Energy on our Staff & Board

Reconnect Rochester kicked off the new year by ushering in new leadership and energy onto our staff team and Board of Directors.

James Dietz joined our dynamic and growing staff team that works day-in and day-out to improve mobility in our community. He’ll be spearheading our advocacy activities, expanding our community outreach, and running the Complete Streets Makeover and Rochester Street Films programs. Find out how James landed here and what inspires him in the message below.

At our Annual Meeting in January, Victor Sanchez was elected our new Board President, taking over from Renée Stetzer who will stay on as an active Board member. We also welcomed three new Board members — Bree-Ana Dukes, Bo Shoemaker and Erick Stephens. Get to know them and what they bring to the table in the profiles below.

Welcome James, Bree-Ana, Bo & Erick! We consider ourselves very lucky to have this kind of talent join our work to champion transportation choices in Monroe County.

JAMES DIETZ

I’m so excited to be Reconnect Rochester’s new Advocacy and Outreach Manager! Originally from Buffalo, I moved to Rochester in 2015 to attend the U of R, where I obtained my BA in Political Science. It was during my time in undergrad that I moved off of campus and began to call Rochester my home. I sought out opportunities to work with community organizations, which led me to become an AmeriCorps VISTA shortly after graduating. I spent a very rewarding year working on housing and economic justice with City Roots Community Land Trust, and urban agriculture with Taproot Collective.

Not having a car of my own, I quickly learned to navigate taking the bus and riding my bike to get around. It made me realize not only how important a good, robust public transportation system is, but also how much better Rochester’s transportation infrastructure could be, especially for those whose car-free lifestyle isn’t a choice but rather a necessity. I remember the first time I found myself in the old abandoned subway tunnels thinking to myself, “Why would they ever get rid of this?” My hope is that the work I do with Reconnect Rochester will bring us closer to a vision of Rochester that is more equitable, healthy, and sustainable for everyone.

BREE-ANA DUKES

Bree-Ana is a Rochester native and serves as the Program Coordinator for Rochester’s electric carshare program, Floshare. Bree-Ana holds a Bachelor degree in Social Science Interdisciplinary and a Masters degree in Higher Education Administration. She brings passion and experience in advocating for a good quality of life and the welfare of societies through accessibility to healthy food, transportation, education, medical care, and housing. In her role at Floshare, Bree-Ana coordinates the operations and member services of Rochester’s first 100% electric vehicle carsharing service. Bree-Ana is honored to be serving on the board of Reconnect Rochester and most looking forward to have the opportunity to further serve and engage the multi-modal transportation interests of Rochester residents.

BO SHOEMAKER

Bo is an avid trail runner, road runner, history run leader, cyclist, and triathlete. After completing law school at Syracuse University College of Law, he has worked as an attorney for Monroe County, the regional appellate court in Rochester, New York City, and now, Genesee County. Bo lives in the North Winton Village neighborhood of Rochester. He is currently leading a segment-by-segment running exploration of The Crescent Trail, is well into planning for his next run through Rochester History Runs, and after several Covid-related delays, plans on running the New York City Marathon this coming November!

ERICK STEPHENS

Erick is the Parent Engagement Specialist for Healthi Kids at Common Ground Health. In this role, Stephens provides technical assistance and support to schools to strengthen and improve parent engagement efforts. He also works directly with parents training them on advocacy and connecting them to opportunities to impact policy, systems, and environmental change in schools. Erick served as a Youth Service Assistant at the Phillis Wheatley Branch Library in Rochester’s Southwest and was the Parent Liaison at James P.B. Duffy School #12, where he now volunteers and runs a program to help develop leaders at the school through mentoring.

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Reconnect brings on three new board members!

We kicked off the new year and decade with our Annual Meeting the first week of January, where we welcomed three new board members — Victor Sanchez, Jackie Marchand and Arian Horbovetz.

Victor is a long-time volunteer for Reconnect Rochester, doing a lot of heavy lifting for our major events through the years. Jackie assisted our Reconnect Rochester/Rochester Cycling Alliance transition team with the Cycling Coordinator candidate search & interview process, and has volunteered on our membership committee. Arian has worked with our communications team to provide content for our blog, as well as provided invaluable background research on e-scooters that shaped our recommendations to the City of Rochester about smart, safe implementation.

Welcome, Jackie, Victor and Arian! Thank you for volunteering your time and talent to hop aboard our train.

ARIAN HORBOVETZ, PHOTO CREDIT: KENDRA FEE

Arian Horbovetz was born in Chicago Illinois, but has spent most of his life in the Greater Rochester Area. Aside from working in clinical trials for the University of Rochester, Arian has owned and operated a professional photography company, ArianDavidPhotography for over a decade.  Five years ago, Arian’s love of urban living and passion for the revitalization of our Upstate New York cities led to the creation of his online urbanist publication, The Urban Phoenix.  Spurring conversation about our cities today, the history behind why our cities are the way they are, the importance of public transit, walkability, and cycling infrastructure are just a few of the topics raised in the nationally-enjoyed blog and podcast. Nearly 40 of The Urban Phoenix’s posts have been republished by Strong Towns, a national leader in the New Urban conversation. Calling himself an “Urban Influencer,” Arian takes pride in challenging the long-held misconceptions about cities, how we live, and why our urban cores face the hurdles they do in a changing world.

JACKIE MARCHAND

Jackie Marchand received an undergraduate degree from the University of Albany and an MBA from the UR Simon School. After working in nonprofit development and then a decade of making bikes and biking apparel for women at Terry Bicycles, she knew she wanted to help make cycling more accessible to more women and purchased WomanTours in 2004. Since then, she has quadrupled the size of the company. In all, Jackie has worked in the Rochester bicycle community for 25 years. When not biking to the office, she’s on the road planning and designing new tours to share her love for cycling with more and more women every year. Jackie travels quite extensively, in fact, having visited all seven continents and at least 45 countries. She’s witnessed how multimodal transportation can transform cities around the world, bring people together, and create more vibrant communities. Jackie wants to help bring the successes from other places to our very own region.

VICTOR SANCHEZ

Victor Sanchez is a Virtual Design and Construction Administrator for Wegmans Food Markets. Victor was born in Mexico and later moved to White Plains, New York. He graduated from RIT with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering Technology. Victor is the immediate past Chair of RocCity Coalition, an organization focused on young Rochesterians. He has represented the Coalition in the Regional Economic Council, Roc-The-Riverway Management Entity Committee, and Re-imagine RTS Advisory Committee. Victor volunteers on several committees with the Out Alliance, Human Rights Campaign, and Genesee Land Trust. Victor also serves on the Boards at Trillium Health, New Pride Agenda, and Rochester People’s Climate Coalition.