Mike Peterson
8th Term Environmental Design major

Born in Portland, Oregon, Michael Peterson studied the Japanese language from age 6-18. A year after graduating Grant High School, he enrolled at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He is currently studying Environmental Design and pursues such hobbies as roller coaster design, automobiles and philosophy.

Giuseppe Fillippone
6th term Transportation Design major

Giuseppe has experienced many different types of Urban, Suburban, and Rural city and town layouts firsthand. Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1981, he was raised in NYC until the age of 12, when his entire family moved to a rural mountain town in southern Italy where he spent 3 years in local schools, using the limited public transportation available in the area. Subsequently, his family moved back to the United States, to an NYC suburb in Long Island, where he finished high school. After graduating from Cooper Union in 2003 with honors, he decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of becoming a Transportation Designer with the help of Art Center College of Design. He is scheduled to graduate in mid 2009.

Giuseppe has a strong belief in the power of public transportation in the fight to reduce global warming. He is also interested in the potential for per capita energy consumption reduction through its use and he believes that good mass transit systems are key to the creation of cultural fermentation through the distribution of population densities across urban and suburban territories. Giuseppe believes that overall, the quality of life obtained from areas served by good public transportation is highly superior to areas served by poor transport systems.

Gabriel Wartofsky
6th term Transportation Design major

My ultimate passion lies in creating desirable, ethical and sustainable mobility solutions that address the diverse needs of various international communities. I aim to do so by intersecting my love of cultural exploration, public outreach and a love for designing automobiles into the need for systems-based solutions to today's mobility challenges.

Born and raised in Washington, DC, I suppose my love for mobility, communication and public outreach spawns from my upbringing in a city dedicated to social change, by a humanitarian family of bicycle riding artists. Both factors exposed me to the many languages of art and motion, culture and counter-culture, and taught me how to develop the necessary skills to explore and artistically resolve societal conflicts.

After graduating high school in 1998, were I actively led workshops on conflict resolution and diversity understanding, I joined City Year Americorps, a Boston-based community service organization dedicated to educational-oriented projects. I spent a year mentoring middle school students and co-developing an awareness-based curriculum on sexual orientation and gender identity that has since become the template for all Boston-based charter middle schools.

I then moved back to DC in 1999 to earn a BA in English from Georgetown University, where I also minored in Spanish and Portuguese, with a concentration in psychology. I spent the earlier years of my twenties living abroad, studying design, language, and teaching English in both Madrid and Sao Paulo. Returning to DC in 2003, I picked up a job bartending, commuting to NYC for design classes at Pratt, and preparing myself for the move to Art Center in 2005. I just returned from a fall internship with RTT in Detroit, where I developed skills in CAD model rendering and animations.

Dan Dawson
Customer Relations Manager

Dan Dawson is the Customer Relations Manager for Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus and oversees the customer information, marketing, public relations, charter services, advertising sales program, and the customer service department including Blue; The Transit Store. Dan has been the marketing field for over 20 years and has been with the Big Blue Bus for the past seven and is currently working on re-development of all street signs and bus shelters for the over 1,200 stops within the Big Blue Bus system.

Linda Gamberg
Marketing & Public Info Coordinator

Linda Gamberg is the Marketing & Public Info Coordinator for Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus. In this role, she directs production of all public information materials and assists with developing partnerships that encourage public transit ridership. Linda has served in marketing communication roles at public affairs software firm Grassroots Enterprise, PC World Magazine, PBS affiliate KQED-TV and the LA Conservation Corps. She is a long-time listener but first-time blog host.

Stephanie G. Negriff
General Manager

Stephanie G. Negriff is the General Manager for Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus, where she oversees transit service delivery to over 22 million customers each year. She has been with the Big Blue Bus for 21 years where she has also held positions in planning, marketing, governmental affairs and operations. Stephanie has been the Big Blue Bus’ Director of Transit Services since August of 2002.