The Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition entered the new year welcoming four new staff members and a new addition to the board of directors. As bicycle advocacy and enthusiasm blooms throughout Santa Clara and San Mateo county, our organization is thrilled to have the opportunity to expand our communications, volunteer engagement, and educational program efforts to better serve the cyclists of our local community. Read below to get to know the newest members of the SVBC team!

Ed Morimoto

It would seem unlikely that a career-change detour to New York City would galvanize one’s commitment to bicycling advocacy. But Ed Morimoto, a Silicon Valley native, credits his twelve-year stint in the Big Apple for spawning a deep commitment to the benefits of urban living, public transit and bicycling as a primary means of transportation. Like many, Ed’s earliest bicycling memories recall the newfound joy and freedom of riding to school and exploring with friends. Rushed, sometimes rainy, trips to college classes and riding to decompress from early engineering workdays were later to follow. But a career pivot to consulting/finance relocating him to NYC through the 2000’s proved formative. While there, organizations like Transportation Alternatives opened Ed’s eyes to visions of a less car-centric world, and he was able to experience, first-hand, the city’s “bicycling renaissance” which transformed a former “death sport” into the preferred mode for his Upper West Side - World Financial Center commute.

Now back in Los Gatos, you’re likely to catch Ed taking his son to preschool on the back of his cargo e-bike or doing his best to pull off the “dad bod in spandex” look on the rolling roads around his home. With a third career in agriculture & real estate investment / development he’s gotten involved in land use policy that dovetails with bike infrastructure, the latest step in burnishing a problem-solving skillset he looks forward to contributing to the Bike Coalition.

Through his involvement with SVBC, Ed hopes to support the Silicon Valley’s own “bicycling renaissance”, helping ensure his son can safely ride to school someday and experience the same joy he once did.

Scott Brown

Scott brings to Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition a strong background in communications, built first as a reporter and editor with five California newspapers, and then in digital media and marketing.

As a boy in Fresno, rising at 3 am to deliver the San Francisco Chronicle by bicycle, Scott fell under the spell of the world’s daily human story. He went on to major in journalism at San Jose State University, and to work in newsrooms in the Central Valley, Ventura County, Los Angeles County, the East Bay, and then at the San Jose Mercury News, before taking digital leadership roles at AltaVista, Netscape, Stanford and Silicon Valley Bank. As a life-long cyclist, Scott has pedaled widely around California, and most of the Continental Divide trail from Mexico to Canada. He’s also an active volunteer, with past engagements in literacy, food distribution, political campaigning and economic development movements, as well as with SVBC.

Scott’s especially passionate about the power of communications, bicycles, home-cooked meals with friends and family, and dogs, to solve almost any of the world’s problems.

Collin Lim

Collin Lim comes to SVBC with over 20 years of experience serving on the planning committee of the American Diabetes Association's walk-a-thons and bicycle tours. His volunteer roles with the ADA include Route Chair, Safety Chair, Logistics Chair, Radio Communications Chair and City/County Liaison. He also ran the planning committee for a number of years. Prior to joining SVBC, Collin worked in various high tech fields: semiconductor, electronics, web design and web development. The companies he worked for range from large corporations to small startups.Collin discovered SVBC from volunteering in the Eastside Connect program delivering farm boxes on bikes to low-income East San Jose residents.

Outside of work, Collin enjoys hiking and cycling. His favorite hiking and mountain biking spots are along the ridge of Santa Cruz Mountains. He also enjoys cycling along Bay Trail and the many creek trails in Silicon Valley.

Emily Parent

Having lived many lives in Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, and her current home Silicon Valley, Emily is constantly in pursuit of interesting experiences and opportunities to find and build meaningful connections within her community. With five years of experience in non-profit community management and after nearly 10 years of telling stories through multiple mediums — including podcasts, film, and the written word — she joins the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition as Communications Officer with a driving motivation to empower the humans of her local community.

When she’s not working, you can often find Emily and her partner at the local farmers market or exploring the quiet parts of the Bay Area by bicycle or roller skate. She is constantly in search of good plant-based restaurants, fun vinyl stickers, and friendly stray cats.

Jianhan Wang

Learning to ride a bicycle was the earliest experience Jianhan had that went from being painful, difficult, and frustrating over repeated falls and leg scrapes to joyful, magical, and something he felt proud of. After many years of riding, he took his first two bike classes which were organized by Bike East Bay and learned a lot more than he expected in how to ride safely and more confidently for transportation, something he thought was essential and should be taught as part of standard school curriculum.

He took his bike instructor’s recommendation to become an League Cycling Instructor (LCI) and has enjoyed teaching hundreds of folks of various ages to level up their bicycle skills and confidence from learning to ride to riding on streets and roads as well as complementary topics like theft prevention at on-bike classes and presentations organized by various organizations in the Bay Area including Bike East Bay, SVBC, and SFBC as well as private lessons over the past nearly 6 years and counting.

Jianhan started his journey with SVBC as a member of the LCI Squad and joined SVBC full-time to increase his impact to help more people enjoy riding bikes for transportation and to a lesser extent, recreation. He would love for you to join a class, a ride, or another event! Feel free to reach out to him about anything you are curious about or want to engage in. His mission is to help people enjoy riding bicycles more for transportation.

Aside from education and rides, Jianhan has volunteered and represented Alameda County on the BART Bicycle Advisory Task Force for 6 years. He has also been a bicycle security nut and been working to help clarify and simplify the process for people to easily secure their bikes. He has a Bachelor’s degree in business and certificates in engineering design and sustainability.

Outside of bike-related work and fun rides, Jianhan enjoys learning for personal development, playing board games, going on occasional hikes, cooking, and reading.