Karina Ricks is a leader in the transportation innovation space. She recently joined as a partner at change management and catalyst firm Cityfi after serving as Associate Administrator for Innovation and Research for the Federal Transit Administration. While there, Karina was an influential force challenging FTA to develop a "big, hairy, audacious goal" for transit in today's new normal of work, life and travel. She initiated new initiatives to understand and address transportation insecurity, advanced work in bus transit automation and zero emission fleet transitions, and promote adoption of open data standards for interoperability of transit's stack of operating systems. Karina came to the Biden-Harris Administration after nearly five years establishing, then leading the first ever Department of Mobility and Infrastructure for the City of Pittsburgh. She currently resides in, and can often be found e-biking around, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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