Member Spotlight: Brenda Hom
Meet Brenda Hom, a Northern California Chapter Member and Climate Mitigation Manager at Ascent.
Check out the September spotlight below to learn about Brenda's time in the association, favorite memories as a member, and more.
Please introduce yourself and your organization.
I am a Climate Mitigation Manager at Ascent and have been working in climate planning for over 15 years. I have a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA and an M.S. in Transportation Technology and Policy from UC Davis. Ascent is a medium-sized, multidisciplinary environmental consulting firm based in Sacramento, CA, where I am part of Ascent’s Climate Action and Adaptation Planning practice. As a technical manager, I lead our team in preparing Climate Action Plans, helping our team identify and quantify effective emissions-reduction measures and actions for cities, public agencies, and communities across multiple sectors, especially transportation.
What brought you to TDM and how did you get involved in the field?
I studied to be a mechanical engineer, but my interest in transportation was always rooted in how transportation could improve people's lives and whole communities while also reducing its impact on the environment. That led me away from the technology itself and to the planning world instead. Given transportation is a major player in GHG emissions, TDM and reducing VMT has always come up as essential solutions in reducing transportation emissions as adoption of zero emission technology also has its set of challenges.
Why did you get involved in ACT?
I was introduced to ACT through David Sorrell, whom I met at a UC Davis Three Revolutions Conference several years ago. I wanted to get involved to learn more about what others in the TDM space are doing and learning what effective, innovative, and implementable trip reduction solutions that have been tried and the challenges with implementation, then fold this knowledge and evidence back into the climate planning work we are doing at Ascent to help our local communities find and support new solutions or expand existing ones.
What has been the most memorable moment of your experience in ACT?
A couple years back I volunteered to be on the planning team for the NorCal TDM summit. It was a great experience to work with those outside of my workplace, but who also had similar passions for sustainable transportation. I also loved to be able to coordinate and connect with the very knowledgeable panelists who are leaders in their field. It has even led to some real-world contract agreements!
What would you tell someone thinking about becoming a member of ACT?
What do you see as future opportunities and/or challenges for TDM?
Getting the public TDM programs to function just as well as the private ones (e.g., shuttles, coordinated rides). Some of this points to the underlying challenges with our individualistic American culture. But I believe that if there is political will to take risks, we can succeed in finding the best solutions to improve mobility, safety, and GHG emissions for the days to come. At the heart of that is changing perception and minds, which may seem like a daunting challenge, but at least we know what the road is ahead.