The Committee (2026-2027)
- Jamie van Geldermalsen – President
- I am an urban planner and designer from Sydney, focused on sustainable mobility. I’ve worked in the public and private sector, helping governments to make walking and cycling the natural choice for people in cities.
- D’Arcy Roche – Vice-President
- I am a transport planner based in Gadi. I help governments in NSW plan for safer, healthier, and more sustainable futures.
- Sarah Guan – Committee member
- I am a Strategic Transport Planner in local government, working to improve public transport and the walking environments that support it. I believe less car-dependent cities are essential for a more liveable future, and that starts with creating connected, convenient and safe places for people to walk.
- Sanaa Shah – Committee member
- I am a community advocate and climate justice campaigner, currently studying a Masters in City Planning. I lead grassroots campaigns in Western Sydney, and I am passionate about blending community organising, research, and policy advocacy to ensure urban planning and climate solutions are directly shaped by community needs.
- Kati Westlake – Committee member
- I am a registered Urban Designer and Architect who walks daily, for commuting, recreation and health. I have professional experience in urban strategy, urban policy and urban design projects, many with a transport focus. Walkability strongly impacts a place’s accessibility, desirability and sustainability as well as the health outcomes of people living there and regularly accessing it. I am keen to promote quality urban design, and transport approaches and interventions that promote walking by ensuring it is safe, direct and comfortable.
- Tegan Mitchell – Technologist
- I am a road transport professional with over 25 years of experience. I have worked in a variety of senior roles in road transport strategy and investment for State and Local Government (TfNSW & City of Sydney). I have expertise in road space allocation & Movement and Place framework. I am passionate about walkable neighbourhoods, and making walking or riding the first choice for transport. I support and urgent plan to reduce speeds to 30km. Slower streets are healthier streets, and will help shift short journeys to sustainable modes reducing climate emissions.
- David Haertsch – Treasurer
- I am self employed as an architect at my Sydney-based practice. Since youth, my life passions have been walking, nature and the city. In the 1980s I undertook part of my career studies in architecture at Kyoto University. Since student days, I have spent much of my leisure time hiking, in Australia, Japan and Europe. I have led and Walking and architectural tours through Japan and Europe and undertaken walking tours in Australia and Africa as well. I am fluent in German, Japanese and French. I have been the honorary treasurer of WalkSydney since its founding and am currently the Pedestrian representative on Sydney City’s Local Pedestrian, Cycling and Traffic Committee.
- Regina Haertsch – Secretary
- Prior to retirement, I was a Policy Director for the NSW Government on competition and consumer regulation. I am passionate about walking and have in fact walked the length and breadth of several countries. This experience has given me a keen sense of walking as transport and therefore I am most supportive of WalkSydney’s goals as well as the objectives of our partners.
- Marc Lane – Committee member
- I am a Director at a consulting firm, qualified in urban design, architecture and law, and with over twenty years’ professional experience in policy, strategy and design at all scales. I have a long-standing passion for walking, cycling and public space, and contributed novel policy for these areas for the Mayor of London’s position paper, ‘A City for All Londoners’ (2016), and then the NSW Design and Place SEPP (2021). I developed the NSW Movement and Place Framework from 2018 – 2020, including publishing the Practitioner’s Guide to Movement and Place, and Evaluator’s Guide (both 2020), which promote a place-based approach to streets, giving more space to people and place.
Advisors to WalkSydney
- Yvonne Poon – former Committee member About 15 years ago, I realised cycling was a great way to get around Sydney, but it seemed like there were so many barriers – physically and socially. Once I did some research on global cities and their policies, I realised there were a lot of ways that global cities are improving to make it easier, nicer, more active and importantly sustainable, to move around. I was inspired to do what I can to make changes in Sydney and locally to align with global best practice, especially to support permanent and temporary disability. I want ageing in Sydney to be easier. I love being part of WalkSydney and learning so much from the team including gaining the confidence to present at the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry on Wellbeing.
- Tim Cassidy – former Committee member I work in property and commute to the city by bike. I am passionate about the environment and road safety. I want to see a world where children and adults can move about on most journeys on foot or bike. Interested in urban design and I surf.
- Lena Huda – Past President of WalkSydney – I co-founded 30Please.org and safe-streets-to-school.org. I grew up on a residential street in Germany, where 30km/h speed limits were implemented in the 80’s. Before moving to Australia in 2019, I was working in senior positions for major investment banks in London. Inspired by the successful “20 [mph] is Plenty for Us” campaign from the UK, my focus is on 30km/h limits: an evidence-backed, low-cost measure that would enable more walking and cycling, save lives, prevent injuries, promote stronger communities and thus reduce health inequalities, obesity, air pollution and CO2 emissions. I live with my Australian husband and four children in Wollongong. My vision is one where walking is safe enough that children as young as 8 years old can walk through their neighbourhood to local schools, parks and shops.
- David Martin – Long time advocate – Now retired, I am a life-long activist for cycling and walking. My 25 years in NSW Transport covered road safety, corporate strategy, change management and major infrastructure. As a parent, grandparent and former teacher, I am passionate about making our streets more walkable and rideable for people 8 to 80. I am continuously lobbying Canada Bay Council and I’m also active with Bicycle NSW.
- Barnaby Bennett – Penultimate Past President of WalkSydney – Dr Barnaby Bennett is an Adjunct Fellow at the UTS School of Design, and in recent years has worked on urban and strategy projects with Right Angle, Hill Thalis, Grimshaw, and REALMStudios. In 2007 he co-founded Freerange Press which has published over 30 books and journals. Barnaby has been involved with a range of activist campaigns including, the establishment of the world’s first Festival of Transitional Architecture and was a co-founder of WalkSydney. Barnaby is currently Senior Design Advisor at the Government Architect NSW. He was the Creative Director of Sydney Architecture Festival (2019) and Festival of Transitional Architecture (2018).
- Brigid Kelly – Past President of WalkSydney – I’m born and bred in Sydney and I’m a co-founder of WalkSydney. I’ve worked in local government for many years in both strategic and operational roles. Local government controls most of our streets, and I was compelled to see a strong voice for walking because for too long, Sydney had been shaped by its established mode share and an asset management-approach to city making which failed to recognise that walking (and bike riding) are integral components of an efficient transport network.
- Dick van den Dool
- David Levinson – I am a Professor at the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney, where I lead TransportLab and the Transport Engineering research group, and direct the Master of Transport. My research interests span transport, from engineering and design, through policy and planning, to geography and economics. My most recent research emphasises transport-land use interactions, accessibility, and transport system evolution. I was the first President of WalkSydney.
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