Our Board

Zach became an activist by way of the bike, and is mostly around in order to expand the number of places he can safely roll to. He works a day job as a software engineer in order to subsidize his political and bike habits. His main strengths are humility, an ability to understand and reconcile disparate world views, and seeing people in their most generous light. His weaknesses are innumerable. He wasn’t born in Texas, but has been around long enough to be considered truly Tex-ish.

Edgar came to Austin in 2007 to attend UT-Austin and stayed ever since. He grew up in Texas as part of a family of working-class Honduran-Palestinian immigrants. He lives in East Austin with his wife and two small children and enjoys traveling around Austin with his family by cargo bike. Edgar has been an AURA member since 2023 and hopes to help Austin become a more affordable place to live.

Parker is a civil engineer who works on the design and construction of roadways, rail lines, and active mobility projects. He grew up in Austin and watched the city double in size, growing up in its own way as a sleepy college town launched itself into the ranks of America’s great cities. But as car-oriented sprawl ate into the Hill Country & each summer burned a little hotter than the last, Parker became committed to fighting for a more sustainable future. He hopes that Austin can lead the country in realizing a vision of green abundance—where people from all over the world can live in freedom, safety, and prosperity.

Ryan spent a decade building and managing Montessori schools, culminating last year in the sale of Mission Montessori, a school he helped found and where he served as CFO. He previously worked on Wall Street as an equity research analyst. He holds an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business and a BA from Boston University.

Peter is a young professional working towards building an Austin that’s for anyone and everyone. With previous experience on the board of College Houses Inc. — one of Austin’s largest cooperative housing nonprofits — he’s always excited to collaboratively build unique solutions for a better tomorrow. Peter is a community engagement professional by day, and has been car-free since moving to Austin in 2020.

Amy was born and raised in Austin and works in state government. She enjoys riding her bike and taking the bus as a means to get around town. As an adult she spent some time abroad, living in South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Her experiences abroad and her experiences navigating Austin when not in a car led to a strong interest in reducing car dependency. She wants Austin to be a safe city for all modes of transportation and she wants anyone who wishes to live in Austin to have the opportunity to do so.

Ki moved to Austin in the mid 1990’s to attend UT. And like several other students he chose to never leave. He and his wife have been building ADUs in Austin for the last 10 years. When not talking about land use, zoning, and urban planning, Ki likes to spend downtime watching sci-fi movies.

Felicity is a small business owner, housing leader and transit activist. She is a partner of Tipit, LLC, an Austin based web design firm and former founder and owner of fibercove. She currently serves as a City of Austin Planning Commissioner, and holds appointments on the South Central Waterfront Advisory Board as well as the Codes and Ordinances Joint Committee. Felicity is a board member of Friends of Zilker, active in the Zilker neighborhood as well as in the Austin urbanist community.

In 2015, she launched fibercove, a full service coworking, meeting and event space which was recognized by Austin Inno as one of the “Fifty on Fire” for 2016. With a background in communications and public policy, Felicity has worked as marketing director for a United Nations-affiliated NGO as well as for various non-profits in NY and Texas. She graduated from Vanderbilt University and holds a dual-masters in Public Policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs and an MA in Communications from the College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin.

Luis is a small business owner and local activist. He was born in Venezuela to a working class family and immigrated to the U.S when he was young. Through hard work and the support of his community he was able to achieve the American Dream, and strives to give the same opportunity to everyone who needs it. Right now, he’s on the board of AURA and serves as a commissioner for the City of Austin’s Building & Standards commission. With AURA, he wants to bring different people together to make Austin a better city for everyone – a place that’s beautiful, inter-connected, affordable, and sustainable.

Alim was born and raised in Montréal. He graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in Computer Science and now works in artificial intelligence. Alim’s passion for cities has found a new focus in Austin. Values for personal choice, economic growth, social mobility, property rights, and fiscal responsibility shape his belief in YIMBYism.

Chloe grew up in the suburbs of Chattanooga, TN. Since High School, she didn’t have the words to say but longed to live in walkable urban cities. During her senior year of high school, in 2016 she volunteered on her first campaign. Since then she has been involved in political organizing and moved to Austin in March of 2021. Since moving to Austin Chloe has adopted a car-fee life, biking and walking everywhere in her neighborhood and taking the bus for longer commutes. Chloe is a student at Austin Community College in the Geographic Information Systems program. When Chloe isn’t organizing for walkable and transit-friendly cities she spends her free time studying Torah and Jewish philosophy, advocating for queer rights, and looking for the next great book or poetry to discover.