MMI Senior Fellows

Laura speaks on mobility, city, and climate topics globally, and is on ‘Transportation Power 100’ and ‘Top Women in Mobility’ lists. She is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Streetlife Ventures, a seed-stage venture fund investing in urban climate solutions to transform sectors including mobility, buildings, energy, waste, and water.​ Previously, Laura was the General Manager of Citi Bike at Lyft and built it into a $100M ARR business and one of the country’s largest transportation systems, led diligence on urban climate tech companies at Sidewalk Labs, launched new mobility products with Boston Consulting Group’s digital ventures team, and advised Bloomberg Philanthropies on their urban investment strategy. Laura also teaches MBA strategy courses at NYU Stern, and is on the board of Governors Island, which will be the test bed for climate innovation in NYC. She is a Senior Fellow with MIT’s Mobility Initiative, and on the urban-focused Expert Taskforce for the World Economic Forum (WEF). ​ Fun fact: Laura’s friends call her ‘20 Questions’ since she loves getting to the heart of a good idea - and she’s given a TED Talk on the topic.

Adam brings a long history of successful involvement in seminal Silicon Valley companies. Adam is currently the Chairman & Managing Partner of UP Partners. Previously, Adam was a Managing Director at Silver Lake Partners for 11 years. At Silver Lake he oversaw successful investments in Tesla (TSLA), Solar City (SCTY), Hyla Mobile (Assurant), Quorum (Thoma Bravo), and Aras (GI Partners). Until recently, he served on the boards of Aeva (AEVA), Calix (CALX), EnerNoc (ENOC), Conviva, Control4 (CTRL), Sentient Energy (Koch), SiBEAM (SIMG), Silver Spring Networks (SSNI), and Transmedics (TMDX). In addition, he has previously served on the boards of Arroyo (CSCO), Alteon (NT), Peakstream (GOOG), Peribit Networks (JNPR) and Traverse Networks (AV). Before SilverLake Kraftwerk, Adam was a General Partner at Foundation Capital for 10 years and was named to Forbes Midas List 4 times. Prior to joining Foundation Capital, Adam was President of Excite@Home, which encompassed thousands of people across multiple divisions. Before @Home, Adam was the co-founder, President and CEO of Catapult Entertainment from inception through IPO. Before his startup life, Adam held leadership positions with technology innovators Apple Computer, Lucasfilm, and Sony - in engineering and management. Adam builds boats and planes, bikes avidly if slowly, and kitesurfs at every opportunity. Adam holds BA, MS and MBA degrees from Stanford University. He is a Senior Fellow at the American Leadership Forum, and was recently awarded an Edmund Hillary Fellowship from the government of New Zealand. Adam is married, with two (amazing) daughters, and two poorly behaved Labradoodles.

Dr. Kara M. Kockelman is the Dewitt Greer Professor of Transportation Engineering in the Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. She earned her B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1991, her M.S. in Civil Engineering and M.C.P. in City and Regional Planning in 1996, and her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in 1998, all from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Kockelman's research encompasses a wide array of topics, including travel demand modeling, the impacts of self-driving vehicles, energy and greenhouse gas emissions, and traffic safety analysis. She has published extensively in these areas, contributing significantly to the field of transportation engineering. You can find pre-prints of her 230 publications at https://www.caee.utexas.edu/prof/kockelman/home.htm Throughout her career, Dr. Kockelman has received numerous accolades, including UC Berkeley's Medal, MIT Tech Review's Top 100 (young) Innovators Award, a Google Research Award, an NSF CAREER Award, 4 national ASCE awards, and CUTC's inaugural New Faculty Award. She has served as the president of the North American Regional Science Council, chaired the TRB Travel Survey Methods Committee and UT Austin Faculty Women's Organization, and has been co-organizing the world's only cost-free carbon-free transportation research conference for 7 years (bridgingtransport.org). Beyond her research and leadership roles, Dr. Kockelman is dedicated to education, teaching courses in travel demand forecasting, transport economics, transportation system design, and data analysis, at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She will be at MIT in the Fall of 2025 for a working sabbatical.

Alex Mitchell is a seasoned investor at the intersection of cleantech and mobility. He currently serves as a Senior Advisor at Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator and authors the Su$tainable Mobility newsletter. While Alex was SVP at Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) he oversaw startup recruiting, incubation programs and was responsible for venture capital investments. Alex raised and deployed the LACI Cleantech Debt Fund, a first-of-its kind lending solution for cleantech startups that was the subject of a Stanford GSB case study. Previously, Alex worked at Peugeot (now Stellantis) as the VP of Corporate Strategy, where he focused on vehicle autonomy and electrification. His previous work experience includes McKinsey, Toyota, and the World Economic Forum (WEF). Alex holds a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from The Wharton School. A lifelong car enthusiast, Alex is one of the rare but growing number of Los Angeles residents who are car free by choice

During her career in the public, private, academic and non-profit sectors, Stephanie Pollack has applied a people-focused, data-driven and pragmatic approach to tackling transportation and other public policy challenges. She has spent the last decade in senior leadership positions in State and Federal transportation agencies. Most recently, Pollack served at the US Department of Transportation as a senior advisor to Secretary Pete Buttigieg on implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and improving project delivery. Prior to that, she served as Deputy (and Acting) Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, focusing on safety and helping to shape and then implement FHWA’s $350 billion share of BIL programs and funding. As Secretary and CEO of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation for six years, she led a multi-modal state transportation agency (including serving on the board of the Massachusetts Port Authority and overseeing the work of a specially-created Fiscal Management and Control Board for the MBTA transit agency). Before her government service, Pollack held increasingly senior advocacy, policy and leadership positions at the Conservation Law Foundation, provided strategic consulting on transportation and sustainable development and conducted research at and helped to design and teach in a newly-created School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. At Northeastern University, Pollack taught core courses on public policy as well as classes on transportation, housing and land use policy. Through her career, she has engaged in advocacy, policymaking, consulting and research a range of related policy issues beyond transportation and infrastructure including economic development, sustainability, public health, housing and land use.

Jamey Tesler is currently the executive director of the Mass Mobility Hub, a public benefit corporation with a mission to support mobility and transportation companies in their growth and accelerate change in this sector. Previously, Jamey served as Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, where he was responsible for a fully multimodal state transportation department, oversaw the leadership of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and served on the board of the Massachusetts Port Authority. Jamey had also served as Registrar of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) in June of 2020, after serving in the role on an interim basis since June of 2019. Jamey has previously worked for more than 20 years in senior management roles in the public sector with experience in infrastructure, transit, sustainability, mobility, public finance, and public policy. Jamey has been a Visiting Fellow at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2023 and 2024.

David Zipper examines the interplay between transportation policy, technology, and society. A Contributing Writer at Vox & Bloomberg CityLab, David’s writing has been published in outlets including The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate, and Vox. His articles focus on topics including road safety, climate change, the uses of transportation data, and the future of American public transit. ​ David was previously the Managing Director for Smart Cities and Mobility at 1776, a global entrepreneurial hub with over 1,300 member startups. Earlier in his career he served as the Director of Business Development and Strategy under two mayors in Washington DC, where he led support for the region’s first startup incubators and guided the city’s response to the emergence of ride hail. Before moving to Washington, David served as Executive Director of NYC Business Solutions in New York City under Mayor Bloomberg. David holds an MBA with Highest Honors from Harvard Business School, an M.Phil in Land Economy (Urban Planning) from Cambridge University, and a BA with High Honors from Swarthmore College. He has been selected as a Truman Scholar, a Gates Scholar, and a Baker Scholar.

David Zipper examines the interplay between transportation policy, technology, and society. A Contributing Writer at Vox & Bloomberg CityLab, David’s writing has been published in outlets including The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Slate, and Vox. His articles focus on topics including road safety, climate change, the uses of transportation data, and the future of American public transit. ​ David was previously the Managing Director for Smart Cities and Mobility at 1776, a global entrepreneurial hub with over 1,300 member startups. Earlier in his career he served as the Director of Business Development and Strategy under two mayors in Washington DC, where he led support for the region’s first startup incubators and guided the city’s response to the emergence of ride hail. Before moving to Washington, David served as Executive Director of NYC Business Solutions in New York City under Mayor Bloomberg. David holds an MBA with Highest Honors from Harvard Business School, an M.Phil in Land Economy (Urban Planning) from Cambridge University, and a BA with High Honors from Swarthmore College. He has been selected as a Truman Scholar, a Gates Scholar, and a Baker Scholar. He was a MMI Senior Fellow for 2024.