Our Team

Kathleen Rooney

Director, Transportation Policy & Programs

Kathleen Rooney

All levels of government in Hawaii have made these amazing climate change commitments — of which transportation is increasingly a larger part of the problem. I’m happy to join Ulupono Initiative where I hope to support policies that help people easily and conveniently use multimodal options in their daily lives and programs and investments that help make this transition happen faster. The sooner we all shift our travel choices, the faster we meet these important community and sustainability goals!”

Kathleen is Ulupono Initiative’s lead on transportation-related policy and programs in advancement of cleaner, multi-modal transportation choices in Hawai‘i. Her current projects include rightsizing parking policies, helping expand immediate transportation choices and access to those choices at all levels, and electrifying those vehicles that will remain on the road.

Through her leadership, Ulupono has helped to:

  • Reduce and remove costly parking mandates and pass on-street parking management reform;
  • Expand the use of community quick builds by funding staffing, implementation, evaluation, and storytelling;
  • Advocate for legislation enabling energy savings performance contracts to apply to electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, leading the way for the State of Hawai‘i’s electric vehicles as a service contract — one of a kind in the nation; and
  • Launch the State’s Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee, a new mechanism for seeding and funding active transportation projects all over Hawai‘i.

Kathleen brings over 15 years of national experience in the transportation and planning, combining both to advance community visions and goals in many diverse communities across the nation. For example, using a combination of analytics and storytelling, she helped two West Virginia towns strategize around health, leading to two trail program implementation grants. She also helped to conceptualize a resiliency center in Washington State, operationalize multimodal accessibility metrics in Florida, and develop a statewide transportation demand management framework for New York State.

Prior to joining the Ulupono team, Kathleen served as a project manager of Renaissance Planning in Orlando, Florida, and as a senior manager at ICF International in Washington, DC. Kathleen holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Tulane University in New Orleans.

Outside the Office

Katie is a proud owner of a cargo electric bicycle, showcasing both electrification and multimodal strategies that can help propel us towards more transportation choices in the future.