Janette Sadik Khan

Personal, academic and professional background

Janette Sadik-Khan was born in San Francisco, California, and moved to New York City as a child. She is the daughter of Orhan Sadik-Khan, managing director of UBS Paine Webber, and Jane McCarthy, a former reporter for the New York Post.

She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. She is married to Mark Geistfeld, a professor at New York University School of Law, with whom she has one child.

She served at the New York City Department of Transportation during the administration of Mayor David Dinkins and became the mayor’s transportation advisor. Sadik-Khan subsequently worked as deputy administrator at the United States Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. under President Bill Clinton, and she was a Senior Vice President at Parsons Brinckerhoff, an international transportation engineering firm.

Commissioner of NYC DOT

Sadik-Khan was appointed transportation commissioner by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007 and served in that role until 2013. Her tenure was marked by significant changes to New York City streets and public spaces, including the conversion of road space into bike lanes and into pedestrian plazas, notably along Broadway at Times Square and Herald Square. Called a "bicycle visionary" by the New York Times, "equal parts Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses," by New York magazine, and one of "The Most Innovative and Practical Thinkers of Our Time" by Slate, Sadik-Khan oversaw the building of nearly 400 miles of bike lanes and more than 60 pedestrian plazas in New York City, and she worked with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to create seven rapid bus routes across the city. She led the creation of Citi Bike, a bike share network of 6,000 bikes—the nation’s largest—which has since been expanded to 12,000 bikes in three boroughs. Over her six and a half years in office, approximately 180 acres of former New York City road space for motor vehicles was converted to use by bicycles and pedestrians, and another 44 acres designated as bus-only lanes.

Controversies

Sadik-Khan’s time in office was also marked by media controversy over her policies, which included projects implemented quickly and at low cost, and encountered sometimes vocal opposition. The transportation department was sued over the placement of bike lanes and bike share racks, and some projects were criticized in the news media. Despite the controversy, the bike lane, plaza and bike share programs that Sadik-Khan introduced were consistently supported in citywide polls by majorities of New Yorkers, and all lawsuits were ultimately dismissed or have yet to lead to the removal of any lane.

Bloomberg Associates

Through her work, Janette Sadik-Khan has become an influential voice on transportation policies and spoken at major global events on urbanism, cycling and transportation policy. At Bloomberg Associates, she currently consults city mayors on transportation practices, including in Los Angeles, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Oakland and Athens, and she speaks at international forums.

Honorary degrees

Awards

Associations

Sadik-Khan is actively involved in many organizations, and currently serves as chair of the board of the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), and has served on the board of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) since 2014.