The Transit Riders Union is built on people power, run by its members, and driven by democratic collective action. Our staff exists to help power that movement. While our elected officers and member-led committees set our political strategy, our General Manager and part-time organizers work every day to support our grassroots operations. From coordinating campaigns to supporting workgroups and maintaining relations with like-minded organizations, our organizers work alongside riders and working-class community members to build independent regional power. Below, meet the staff team helping to support TRU’s organizing.
Lam Ho
Lam (he/him) is grateful and honored to be TRU’s General Manager. He brings to TRU over two decades of experience advancing justice through community-driven advocacy, as both a community organizer and attorney. A lifelong transit rider, Lam began his journey as an organizer working on HIV/AIDS, LGBTQI+, disability, and racial justice. He then attended law school to become a community and movement lawyer, working to put the power of the law into the hands of underserved, low-income peoples. His experiences culminated in the founding of Beyond Legal Aid in 2014, which combines legal services with community organizing and activism to empower thousands of undocumented immigrants, laborers, sex workers, and activists annually. Lam received his J.D. from Harvard Law School and holds additional graduate degrees from Brown University and the University of Oxford.
Olive Garrett
Olive Garrett is TRU’s Transit Justice Organizer. A proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation, she holds a Master of Communication Leadership from the University of Washington, where she specialized in Storytelling and Ethics & Law. Before joining TRU, Olive led the community engagement strategy behind a $500,000 capital campaign for the Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation, translating stakeholder interviews into the messaging framework that shaped the campaign’s public voice. She brought that same focus on listening first to the International Rescue Committee, where she strengthened outreach for immigrant and refugee communities in Seattle, and to the University of Washington Libraries, where she spent nearly two years turning dense institutional policy into resources that students and faculty could actually use, while advocating for how the university values community-engaged work. Olive’s early career was rooted in large-scale event and conference operations, managing sponsorships, exhibitors, and logistics for statewide conferences with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Across every role, she has focused on turning community voice into action, whether that means shaping institutional policy or building a movement. Outside of work, Olive is rarely without a book in hand and always on the hunt for some new, exciting food to try (feel free to send your recommendations!).
Jack Kelly
Jack Kelly is an urban planner and transportation advocate joining us from New York City. He has a background in public service, policy analysis, transportation, and emergency management. He recently completed his Master’s in Urban Planning at NYU and has worked with organizations including the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management, the MTA, and NYC Emergency Management. A U.S. Army veteran, Jack is passionate about making communities more connected, resilient, and accessible. He loves all things public transit and exploring new places on different transit modes. Along with his partner and their two bulldogs, Jack is excited to call the PNW home and get to work serving the communities of Seattle.