Founder

Katherine Freund Katherine Freund
Founder, President

Katherine has a Master of Arts degree in Public Policy from the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She served on the Advisory Committee for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, as a National Transit Institute Fellow and for nine years on the Transportation Research Board's Committee on the Safe Mobility of Seniors. Currently, she chairs TRB's Joint Subcommittee on Transportation Options for Seniors. Katherine received the 2006 Maxwell Pollack Award from the Gerontological Society of America, a 2006 award for Leadership in Innovative Enterprise Ideas from the Social Enterprise Alliance, the 2004 Archstone Award for Excellence in Program Innovation from the American Public Health Association, and the Giraffe Award for sticking her neck out for the common good.

Her publications include:

  • "Policy Initiatives to Move Seniors Forward," Public Policy and Aging Review, Freund and Staplin, Fall 2005.
  • "Mobility and Older People," Generations, Journal of the American Society on Aging, Summer 2003.
  • "Independent Transportation Network: The Next Best Thing to Driving," Generations, Journal of the American Society on Aging, Summer 2003.
  • "Surviving Without Driving: Policy Options for Safe and Sustainable Transportation for Seniors," Transportation in an Aging Society: A Decade of Experience, Transportation Research Board, 2004.
  • "Transportation on the Horizon," Mobility and Transportation in the Elderly, pp.145-155. Schaie, Pietrucha, ed., Societal Impact on Aging, Springer Series, 2000.
  • "Independent Transportation Network, Alternative Transportation for the Elderly," TR News, pp. 3 –12, Jan/Feb 2000.
  • "Transportation Solutions on Horizon," Aging Today, p.10, January/February 1998.
  • "Build it and They Will Come," Transportation, pp.12-15, September/October 1998.
  • "How to Deal with Aging Drivers," Eye on Washington, Maine Sunday Telegram, p.1, Section C, August 2, 1998.

In addition to 14 National Transit Institute Workshops, Katherine has participated in more than 50 national panels and conference sessions on alternative transportation for seniors. She was the keynote speaker for the "Safe Roads" Conference in Melbourne, Australia in July 2002 and "Closing the Gaps" Conference in Brisbane, Australia, in 2007; and the keynote speaker at the Edmonton Seniors Coordinating Council/Alberta Motor Association Roundtable on Seniors' Transportation in Edmonton, Canada in 2007.