Based in Chicago, Marla Westervelt is a Principal at Cityfi, where she brings robust experience working across think-tanks and advocacy organizations, private sector start-ups, and within transit agencies. Marla has built her career around a passion for aligning the public and private sectors to yield outcomes that are in the public interest. 

Marla’s previous experience includes serving as a founding member and Head of Research at LA Metro’s former Office of Extraordinary Innovation, leading policy research and policy development as VP of Policy at SAFE’s Coalition for Reimagined Mobility, and as an early-stage employee at Bird Rides leading data sharing with cities. She has also worked with the Eno Center for Transportation, MobilityData, Populus, and Exodigo. 

Through these experiences, Marla has developed unique expertise in driving innovation within large bureaucracies, developing and implementing public-private partnerships introducing and deploying new technologies, and leveraging data to improve outcomes in the movement of goods and people. 

Marla holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science and a Bachelor’s in English from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She was honored in the Association for Commuter Transportation 40 under 40 in 2019 and Mass Transit 40 under 40 in 2018.