Gabe Klein

Gabe has spent his career as an entrepreneur, both in the private sector and government, focused on the best outcomes he can produce for people. As the former Commissioner of the Chicago and Washington DC Departments of Transportation, he embraced new integrated policies, technologies and process improvements while focusing on putting people and the planet first first vs. automobiles on city streets. This included launching two of the first and largest bikeshare systems in the U.S. and building protected bike lanes and better pedestrian infrastructure for vulnerable citizens citywide, as well as facilitating or building high-quality transit and shared mobility services that could help each city’s mobility goals. As Commissioner, he worked to revamp public spaces and bring a new Riverwalk to Chicago as well as the breathtaking Bloomingdale Trail, 100’s of miles of bike lanes, and less sexy behind the scenes revamps for parking, permitting, and many other arcane government processes that translates to better operations and budget for city priorities. Gabe honed his creativity and leadership skills working in business, including Zipcar, where he served as Vice President, Bikes USA as national Director of Stores and his own electric powered, organic food truck chain, On The Fly.

Post-government, and after an enriching fellowship with the Urban Land Institute in 2014, Gabe joined Fontinalis Partners as a Special Venture Partner on their $100 million 2nd fund and now 3rd fund (2020). Gabe also advises governments and companies worldwide on innovation in cities including Singapore where Gabe has been a visiting fellow for the Centre For Livable Cities, working on creating a “car-lite” city-state. In 2015, Gabe also published Start-Up City with David Vega-Barachowitz on Island Press, a manifesto on revamping how (and how fast) we innovate in cities and rethinking public-private partnerships with a triple-bottom-line approach as technology shapes a dramatically different future. Gabe sits on the boards of Transit Screen, Carma, and Streetsblog, and advises companies including Spin, Coaster and Cabana.