Lauren Bermudez works as the Transportation Program Manager at the Downtown Memphis Commission.

Her work focuses on ways to add mobility options to everyday life in Memphis and how to creatively reduce parking demand downtown. Lauren’s projects include sidewalk improvement, parking-demand management strategies, electric vehicle infrastructure, bicycle education programs, and more! 

Memphians interested in finding fun, safe, and easy alternatives to their single-occupancy vehicle commutes have a wonderful ally in Commute Options! An initiative of Innovate Memphis, Commute Options serves as a resource to improve the choice to use public transportation, rideshare, bicycling, and walking to work or school.

Geoff Calkins grew up as the eighth of nine children on a small farm outside of Buffalo, New York. A Magna Cum Laude graduate from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he practiced law in Washington, D.C. for three years before deciding at 31 to switch to being a sports columnist for more fun and impact.

Danny Song’s journey to becoming the new CEO of Give Services began years ago. Before he served as the Founder and Executive Director of Believe Memphis Academy Charter School, and before he helped found four different charter schools in Memphis and Nashville, Danny and his wife Sarah joined the education reform movement as part of the first Memphis Teacher Residency class. 

Wendi C. Thomas founded MLK50: Justice Through Journalism in 2017 as a one-year project that grew into a nonprofit newsroom focusing on poverty, power, and public policy in Memphis. Previously, Thomas was metro columnist and assistant managing editor at The Commercial Appeal, The Charlotte Observer, The Tennessean, and The Indianapolis Star.