Sacramento: CalBike's Executive Director, Dave Snyder, will leave the organization in August to take a position as Senior Director of Local Innovation at national advocacy organization PeopleForBikes.
Since joining CalBike as Executive Director in 2010, Snyder has grown the organization into a respected voice for bicycling in the state's capital and an influential leader among organizations that advocate for bicycling in communities across California. CalBike is grateful for his tenure and excited to continue collaborating with him in his new role at PeopleForBikes.
"I am glad to have had the chance to serve CalBike's mission as its executive director for a decade," Snyder said. "We've built a strong team that is ready to take this organization to the next level as a powerful voice for equitable and prosperous communities where bicycling is an easy and safe choice for all Californians."
Under Snyder's leadership, CalBike's tenacious, hardworking team has passed model e-bike legislation, pushed through Complete Streets reform at Caltrans, defeated a helmet mandate, legalized protected bike lanes, and gotten several bills passed to protect bicyclists, including the Three Feet for Safety Law requiring motorists to give bicyclists 3 feet of space when passing. They have gotten more funding for bicycling as well, securing an increase in state-level funding for biking and walking from around $100M to over $1 billion, and winning $10M for e-bike purchase incentives.
CalBike has helped to coordinate more than twenty local advocacy organizations with a combined membership of over 100,000, influencing elections for the California State Assembly and Senate and building support for ballot measures such as the successful defeat in 2018 of a proposed repeal of the gas tax.
"We're incredibly grateful to Dave for all he's done for the California Bicycle Coalition, and we're delighted he's staying in bicycle advocacy. Dave has built a strong, talented team to continue this legacy of building safer, more equitable communities so all Californians can prosper. We're also excited about CalBike's next chapter and have begun the process to identify new executive leadership to take us to the next level," said Cynthia Rose, CalBike's Board Chair.
The Board has appointed Kevin Claxton, CalBike's Operations Manager, as Interim Director. "I'm delighted to take the helm at CalBike, supporting staff and board as we continue the great work that Dave has led. It's a critical time for transportation, with many terrific opportunities for our policy team to advance our mission to create healthy, equitable communities through bicycling."
