Who we are

Qualities of the positions:

• Two year terms
• Six appointed by Mayor
• Five appointed by City Council
• One Get Engaged member
• Appointments confirmed by City Council

Boardmember Bios

Amin Amos

Amin's earliest experiences with transit were bus-oriented and expanded to other modes as they became available. Making transit accessible and enjoyable to use are his primary objectives. He's a proud owner of a Mariners-themed ORCA card and Mt. Baker is his favorite transit station.

Xander Barbar

Bio to be updated. 

Keiko Budech

Keiko Budech is the Communications Manager at Transportation Choices Coalition. In this role, she promotes TCC’s work to Washington State’s decision-makers and manages the communication program and TCC’s online presence. Before joining TCC, Ms. Budech was the Senior Communications Associate at Sightline Institute. She also served on the Seattle Planning Commission from 2016-2017 as a member of the Get Engaged program. She is passionate about supporting equitable transit and ensuring transit is safe, equitable, and accessible for all.

Art Kuniyuki

From riding Seattle Transit buses as a child, to joining a Metro Transit Community Advisory Group for the Long-Range Plan that resulted in METRO CONNECTS, watching over ORCA Business Passport Cards and transit issues for his employer, and now living in West Seattle, and seeing the transportation issues that will result with the bridge closing, Art enjoys all aspects of transit planning, and hopes to help his city and neighborhood as a member of the Seattle Transit Advisory Board.

Andrew Martin

Andrew's experience with transit and interest in transit planning in Seattle started when he lived in the U-district as a teenager attending a program for visually disabled teens. He went on to attend the UW for his undergraduate study and became very familiar with many bus routes in the city. After working in Seattle for a few years, his career took him to other cities where he gained first-hand experience with how other major metropolitan areas have designed transit systems with bus and rail such as Washington DC, and the Bay Area. More recently he served on the Link Connections Sounding Board and on Metro's Transit Advisory Board.

Sandro Pani

Sandro has dedicated his career to transit design. He was born and raised in Mexico, lived on both east and west coasts, and recently settled in Seattle. He received his MSc in Railway Systems Engineering and Integration from the University of Birmingham, UK. As a civil engineer he has delivered design, planning, and program management for over a dozen separate public agencies across the country. Sandro is passionate about rail and improving public access to multi-modal transit systems.

Emily has been a multi-modal transit user since childhood. From taking the Portland TriMet bus to high school, navigating Portland and Seattle bike transit routes, riding Link to the UW, and now again commuting via bus, transit networks have been essential to her personal and professional life. Emily went to Whitman College and worked in outdoor science education and urban tree programming before studying public finance at the UW Evans School of Public Policy and Governance. Since receiving her MPA, Emily has used public finance as a lens for understanding public policy tradeoffs in public sector consulting and local government agencies.

Erin Tighe

Erin is a recent college graduate, interested in politics and government. She has become active in transportation and transit issues, both within her neighborhood and as part of Metro’s Link Connections Sounding Board.

Barbara Wright

Barbara Wright has actively worked to improve multi-modal transportation opportunities in Seattle throughout her career. She first became interested in transportation issues while working at Seattle-King County Public Health. She was a Transportation Choices Coalition Board Member for nine years and served as Board Chair for two of those years. She also served on the Arboretum Foundation Board for over 12 years and served as Board Chair for two of those years. Barbara served on the Seattle Bridging the Gap Oversight Committee, the Citizens’ Transportation Committee III, the Seattle Transit Citizens’ Advisory Committee and the Governor’s Connecting Washington Task Force.

Michelle Zeidman

Michelle is a transit commuter who is passionate about making it easier for all people to get around the Puget Sound without a car. Michelle has spent more than a decade studying and working on public transportation and urban planning policy. This work has involved increasing access to light rail, expanding bus transit service, analyzing public ferry service, and advocating for public transportation funding for transit-dependent populations. She has a Master of Public Administration and a Master of Urban Planning from the University of Washington. In her spare time, Michelle is an artist and avid traveler.

Former Board Members