The WalkBoston Board is pleased to announce that Stacey Beuttell will be the organization’s next Executive Director. Stacey, who is WalkBoston’s Deputy Director, will succeed Wendy Landman, who has led the charge to make Massachusetts more walkable for the past 15 years.
Wendy will continue with her policy and advocacy efforts for the organization after she steps down as Executive Director in September 2019. “Since I started almost 15 years ago, we have moved beyond explaining the need for walkability to pushing for, and seeing the implementation of, changes in the built environment to support people walking,” said Wendy. “Stacey’s passion for WalkBoston’s mission and her skill at drawing new people and communities into walking advocacy make her a perfect new leader. I am thrilled that she will lead WalkBoston to even bigger and better successes across Massachusetts.”
Stacey has worked closely with Wendy over the last six years, advocating for complete streets programs, rural walking, sidewalk snow removal policies, safe routes to schools, age-friendly communities, and safe walking connections to transit. Together, they aligned WalkBoston’s efforts with public health professionals to promote access to safe, walkable neighborhoods, and with transportation and police organizations to reduce speeds and crashes between people driving and people walking.
Stacey came to WalkBoston well-equipped for the position. Prior to joining the organization in 2013, Stacey was a Senior Associate at Sasaki Associates, where she practiced as a landscape designer and planner for over thirteen years. She holds a Master in Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Michigan and Bachelor of Arts in American Studies/Environmental Studies from Dickinson College.
Shortly after joining the staff, Stacey focused her efforts on broadening WalkBoston’s reach. Her work with the Department of Public Health’s Mass in Motion program, MassDOT’s Bicycle and Safety Awareness and Enforcement Program, and the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security’s Pedestrian Safety Planning Initiative has taken her across the state building municipal staff and community awareness around walkable design.
In December, Stacey led the launch of the organization’s WalkMassachusetts Network, an initiative designed to connect and support local groups working on walking. The Network helps groups share advocacy techniques, approaches for securing improvements to the walking environment, and methods of building constituencies to improve local walking. “WalkBoston covers a lot of ground, but there are 351 municipalities in Massachusetts,” said Stacey. “By connecting people working on walking with us and with each other, we build the walking movement at the local level — that’s where real change happens.”
As part of her statewide outreach, Stacey has worked extensively with neighborhood residents and schools in Springfield. Many of the recommendations she put forth in walk audits became priorities for complete streets projects and community-led efforts to improve sidewalks and street crossings. “Wendy Landman is synonymous with WalkBoston in the Boston area,” said board member Betsy Johnson of Springfield, “but outside 495, WalkBoston has been known to municipal staff as ‘Stacey’s organization’ for years.”
Wendy assumed the role of WalkBoston Executive Director in 2004. In her first major advocacy effort, she galvanized support to ensure that the Charles River North Bank pedestrian bridge was built. The highly publicized walk she led with community and agency leaders showed that riverside trails to the new parks would dead-end without a bridge over the rail tracks. Globeand Herald editorials followed and revitalized widespread interest in the bridge, which encouraged the state to seek funding. The bridge was completed in 2012.
Since joining WalkBoston, Wendy has collaborated with the City of Boston to promote safer walking. These efforts include helping to shape the award-winning Complete Streets Guidelines and Vision Zero and Go Boston 2030 initiatives. During her tenure, Wendy transformed WalkBoston into a fully staffed, professionally-run statewide organization recognized nationally for its pedestrian advocacy efforts and technical expertise. WalkBoston was a strong supporter of statewide legislation that allowed cities and towns to lower the default speed limit in the fall of 2016. She is on the Board of Directors of America Walks, a national advocacy organization, and represents WalkBoston on the Massachusetts Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board, the executive committee of Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA), and the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative.
“Wendy Landman has worked tirelessly to promote safety and accessibility for the thousands of people who choose to make their way around Boston on foot each day,” said City of Boston Transportation Commissioner Gina N. Fiandaca. “We admire the work that Wendy has accomplished at WalkBoston and appreciate the positive impact that she has made on our local streets. Wendy’s advocacy has contributed to helping Boston maintain its title as America’s Walking City, and we look forward to continuing to work with WalkBoston on our shared transportation goals.”
This fall, WalkBoston will celebrate Wendy Landman’s 15 years of service.