Walk Bike Nashville is fortunate to have many supportive members, sponsors, volunteers and partners each year. Our work simply would not be possible if it weren't for the huge number of Nashvillians working to make our city more walkable and bikeable. While it would be impossible to list everyone who has helped move the transportation needle in Nashville this last year, we like to take the opportunity to recognize a few individuals each year for their outstanding work to make our city a better place to live and get around.  Here are the 2016 Annual Award Winners

Kibby Clayton Award: David Kleinfelter

Each year we award the Kibby Clayton award, a memorial to our first President, to the indvidual who our Board and Staff feel has contributed the most to active transportation in the last year. This year the winner was David Kleinfelter. David was one of Walk Bike Nashville's founding board members and has served on our Board of Directors for the past 17 years. Walk Bike Nashville simply would not be what we are today if it weren't for David. From being an early advocate on Metro Council for active transportation, to helping start the Music City Moves program (which provides much of our funding), to hiring our first staff, to organizing countless Tour de Nashs, Walk to School Days and other events -- we are eternally indebted to David. David will be rolling off our Board of Directors this year, but thanks to him he's leaving behind an organization with 4 full-time staff, a fantastic Board of Directors, and (hopefully) the capacity to continue our work for many more years to come.

Metro Official of the Year: Michael Briggs

The Metro Official of the Year is awarded to the person within Metro, either elected or unelected, that has done the most to promote walking and biking. This year this category was particularly competitive, but we are thrilled to announce the winner is Michael Briggs, our Transportation Planner and longtime supporter of all modes of transportation. For those who don't know Michael, he is the man behind the scenes helping ensure Nashville's future plans (from Nashville Next to the Major and Collector Street Plan) focus on transportation for all Nashvillians, not just those in cars. Michael's work will have a lasting impact on our city's streets. But not only has Michael helped plan for a multimodal future, he is also the endlessly willing to listen to and assist community members. A true public servant Michael constantly works to make sure our Metro Government works better for all Nashvillians. Nashville, and Walk Bike Nashville, is truly lucky to have Michael Briggs in our corner.

Advocate/Ambassador of the Year: Carey Rogers

We have a wonderful group of Ambassadors and advocates that work to make their neighborhood and the city more walkable and bikeable by speaking up for policy and infrastructure decisions. This year, Carey Rogers worked tirelessly in this realm: fighting the state bill to defund bike infrastructure; assisting in the passage of the Elena Zamora Memorial Act, which increases penalties for failure to yield right of way; and pushing for laws and enforcement against parking in bike lanes to name a few. If you ask him about his work, he will no doubt humbly say, “Oh, you know, it’s no big deal really.” But we know it definitely is a big deal. Thank you Carey.

Volunteer of the Year: Virginia Rogan

Our volunteers are absolutely vital to our organization and mission. This year, we’ve tracked over 800 hours of volunteer time, and that’s probably a low estimate. From Bike Valet events to Tour de Nash and Open Streets, our volunteers make events top notch and are the faces of Walk Bike Nashville. Virginia donated so many hours to these events and always seems to arrive early, stay late and be willing and ready if we need someone last minute. In addition to all that, she is also a new instructor this year and has already helped teach many of our adult classes. 

Instructor of the Year: Ryan Kamper

Walk Bike University is led by 15 fantastic volunteer instructors that teach our adult Walk Bike University classes, as well as frequently volunteering to help with schools and bike rodeos. They all went through a rigorous national training program to be certified by the League of American Bicyclists and they really enable our education programs to do what it does best: this year, we engaged over 400 participants in over 35 classes. Ryan is always willing to pitch in when we need extra help, volunteers to teach a lot of classes, and gives great feedback and suggestions on making the program better. He even helped created new curriculum this year for our winter workshop, and his passion for bicycling and teaching others how to safely bicycle is always evident. We couldn't do it without you!