Who is SABA?

Owen Howlett
President

Owen has taught courses on traffic cycling skills and bicycle maintenance to adults and children since 2000.  He has taught students to negotiate the busy streets of his native London , England , where he worked as an instructor with Cycle Training Ltd.  Owen moved to Troy , NY in 2002 and worked with Troy Bike Rescue, helping local children and teenagers build their own bikes from salvaged parts. He came to Sacramento in 2003, joined SABA , qualified as a League Certified Instructor and taught Sacramento 's first regular Bike Education courses in 2005.  He joined the board of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates in 2006.  In the same year he helped to establish the Sacramento Bicycle Kitchen. 

Owen commutes by bike and light rail to his job in Fair Oaks, where he works for the Heschong Mahone Group, conducting engineering research on energy-efficient buildings for the California utilities and the California Energy Commission.  His specialties are efficient electric lighting and daylighting systems.  He owns the world's lickiest dog, who has learned "left" and "right" and accompanies him on rides to the grocery store.

Charles McCann

Vice President

Jennifer Finton
Treasurer

Jennifer was elected to the SABA Board in June 2005 and has served as Treasurer for two years.  Professionally, Jennifer worked in the nonprofit sector for 12 years, most recently with Breathe California, before beginning her current job as a stay-at-home mom.  In addition to cycling, her passions include environmental stewardship, native plants, music and cooking.  When not chasing after her toddler, Jennifer can be found consulting from home, gardening, playing softball on a co-ed team with her husband, traveling near and far, and pedaling along the American River Parkway and her Carmichael neighborhood.

Scott Clark

Director

Scott is a Project Manager for the Local Government Commission, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization that supports local elected officials and other community leaders who are working to create healthy, walkable, and resource-efficient communities throughout California. Scott's work focuses on improving public health by increasing opportunities for active living through sustainable transportation and land use planning. He holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Arizona.

Scott is a daily bicycle commuter and also enjoys pedaling up steep hills and the occasional race.

Chris Davis-Murai
Director

Prior to opening the Bicycle Chef, owner Christopher Davis-Murai has been a busy guy.

• Graduate of Culinary Institute of America
• 12 years as a professional chef
• 18 years road racing
• 5 years cyclecross
• 3 years mountain bike racing
• 2 years track tracing

Christopher is originally from Elk Grove and after years cruising the country in either kitchens or on a bike, he has settled in Land Park with his wife Jennifer of five years. Their first little biker babe was born on December 22, 2006.

Whether it’s commuting, mountain biking, self-contained touring or an occasional racing lark, Yvette enjoys many forms of bicycling. She’s been a bicycle commuter and advocate for 25 years. She’s volunteered for Bike to Work Day events in San Diego since 1992, organized the first San Diego State University Bike Commute event and continues to be a pedal pool leader. She served as a volunteer mechanic for the Arcata Library Bike program and hopes that if you ever rode one of the bikes she repaired, you arrived at your destination without incident or regret.

A resident of West Sacramento, Yvette looks forward to working for the benefit of current and future cyclists in this currently underserved area. She plans to work with local leaders and the business community to design and plan for better connectivity and infrastructure to support bicycling as a parallel mode of travel to vehicles in this remarkable flat landscape.

Walt Seifert

Executive Director

Walt Seifert was named Executive Director of the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates (SABA) in 1998. He is a League of American Bicyclists League Certified Instructor (LCI). He has been a bike commuter since 1991.

Walt was a member of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments' (SACOG) Metropolitan Transportation Plan Roundtable, a community advisory group. He was also a member of the Sacramento Transportation and Air Quality Collaborative, a multi-year county-wide effort to make transportation recommendations.

Walt writes a monthly transportation column for Inside Publications. Inside Publications publishes three neighborhood newspaper editions, Inside the City, Inside East Sacramento and Inside Arden.

Prior to his involvement with bicycle advocacy, Walt worked as a civilian employee of the U.S. Air Force. He was an auditor with the Air Force Audit Agency and a program manager with the Air Force Logistics Command. As a program manager, he managed the C-12 aircraft, a Beech King Air, twin-engine turboprop that is contractor maintained and assigned to U.S. embassies around the world. He also managed electronic warfare modification programs on the F-111 and A-10 aircraft. Air Force assignments were at McClellan AFB, California , Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio, and Rhein-Main AB in Frankfurt, Germany.

Walt’s education includes a BA in English and an MBA in marketing from Miami University.

Walt and his wife, Anita Clevenger, live in east Sacramento. They have a son, Kurt.

Seifert received Citizen Awards from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) in 2002 and from the California Transportation Federation in 2003 for his work with SABA. During his tenure as Executive Director, SABA has received Clean Air Awards from Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails, a Civic Contribution Award from the League of Women Voters Sacramento County, an Environmental Recognition Award from the Sacramento Environmental Commission, a Club of the Year award from the League of American Bicyclists, recognition from the Save the American River Association and a SACOG Salutes! Blueprint Excellence award, in conjunction with WALKSacramento, for work on Complete Streets.