Program Leadership
Steve Bellone
Suffolk County Executive, Long Island, NY
Co-Chair, NAR
Luke Bronin
Mayor of Hartford
Co-Chair, NAR
Douglas McGarrah
Partner, Foley Hoag
Chair, A Better City
Co-Chair, NAR
Robert Yaro
President, North Atlantic Rail Alliance
Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania
Founded in 2017, the North Atlantic Rail initiative emerged from Reboot New England, an ad hoc effort led by a group of prominent business, civic, government, and academic leaders from across New England.
Over the past three years the project’s leaders have convened a series of round table discussions on this proposal across Southern New England with participants including municipal, state, and federal officials and business, civic, academic, and philanthropic leaders.
Northeast Corridor Commission
CONNECT NEC 2035 does nothing to advance the kind of true high-speed rail service that we need… The North Atlantic Rail, backed by the U.S. House of Representatives, is the only plan on the table today to advance 200 mph/100-minute service between New York and Boston via Long Island, New Haven, Hartford, and Providence…"
– Robert D. Yaro - President, North Atlantic Rail Alliance
Steering Committee
Kip Bergstrom is a strategy consultant and startup mentor. In his long career in economic development, he has served three mayors and three governors, including as Deputy Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council, and Economic Development Director for Stamford, Connecticut.
Jarred Johnson is the Executive Director of TransitMatters, a nonprofit dedicated to improving transit in and around Boston by offering new perspectives, uniting transit advocates, and informing the public. He has a wealth of experience at the intersections of transit, housing, and political organizing.
Dave Kapell has served the Village of Greenport on the North Fork of Long Island, NY for twenty-seven years in the positions of Community Development Director, Village Trustee, Planning Board Chairman and Mayor from 1994 until his retirement in 2007. Mr. Kapell is president of Stirling Public Policy, Ltd, where he works on regional transportation, transit-oriented development, alternative energy, and environmental issues. He represented the Long Island Association as the Executive Director of the Right Track for Long Island Coalition, a civic advocacy group formed to support governor Andrew Cuomo’s $2 billion LIRR Expansion Project.
Doug McGarrah is a partner at Foley Hoag LLP and Chair of the Board of A Better City, a business organization focused on transportation, environment and development issues impacting the City of Boston and the region. His legal practice focuses on development and transportation issues and prior to joining Foley Hoag, Doug served as Mass DOT Chief of Staff and Chief Counsel on the Central Artery/Tunnel project.
Scott Wolf is the Executive Director of Grow Smart Rhode Island, which is now the largest and oldest smart growth statewide organization in New England. For more than four decades, Scott has transformed opinion and policy research into effective communication and legislative strategies for progressive policy organizations, media outlets, elected officials, and political candidates.
Bob Yaro is former President of the Regional Plan Association in New York and Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania. He has had a 50 year career leading transportation and environmental initiatives in New York and New England.
