Reconnecting America with Rails To Trails President Ryan Chao

02/28/24 • 46 min

Urban trail access began as a young boy for Ryan Chao; growing up in Portland, Oregon, skiing, fishing, and cycling were a way of life. After architecture school, he mentored with a talented group of visionaries at the Bryant Park Revitalization Project, where he discovered his love for “people over buildings,” turning New York City’s most dangerous park into a global model for urban greenspace renewal.

In 2019, Ryan was elected president of the Rails To Trails Conservancy (RTC), where he oversees national leadership in trail development, policy advocacy, and movement building. Other positions as vice president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, where he transformed neighborhoods, and developed affordable housing as director of the San Francisco Bay Satellite Housing, prepared Ryan for his current role.

Ryan and his team at RTC have raised over 20 billion dollars in federal funding, including 850 million in 2021 alone, more than doubling federal funding for walking and biking trails. Current projects include The Great American Rail-Trail, a 3,700-mile cross country route, 8 of 12 states along the route have introduced new trail segments since 2019.
Ryan and his RTC team have created Traillink.com, a free online trail access app—which became an essential resource for 10.5 million users in 2021. RTC’s mission is to create a nation where trails connect everyone, everywhere. We are excited to welcome this champion of environmental sustainability, community revitalization, and promoter of health and wellness to this episode of Intrinsic Drive®.
Intrinsic Drive® is produced by Ellen Strickler and Phil Wharton and Andrew Hollingworth is sound editor and engineer.

Previous Episode

Season Four Reflections

The gift of stepping inside the lives of this season’s guests gave me unexpected insight for my own challenges, struggles, and failures. Answers are there when we allow ourselves to listen.

·This world is full of landmines for those who have suffered from sexual abuse. Victims No Longer author, Mike Lew and the community of survivors prove that recovery is possible, providing much-needed hope.
·Architect and designer Eve Picker transformed her adopted city of Pittsburgh after bankers refused funding. Clear in her resolve, she went ahead and built the first lofts downtown guided by her commitment to impact investing, restoration, and historic preservation.
·Master woodworker Cecilia Schiller has had to face many unknowns; she reminds us to lean into these dangerously vulnerable places.
· Stephanie Slocum, author of She Engineers, inspires us to take advantage of small windows of time. She encourages us to spend time looking inward and reminds us of the value of self-exploration.
·Everything has limitations—even self-reliance. Andre Williams experienced failure for the first time during his transition from high school to collegiate athletics. Having the courage to ask for help moved Andre forward, beyond his own expectations. ·Mary Sullivan realized that fun should be at the cornerstone of creating a sustainable business. This former boutique Hollywood entertainment attorney left her practice - inspired by an obvious need - to co-create the MikeRoweWORKS Foundation.
· Life’s detours are often the richest part of our journey. Kate Erickson leveraged early career struggles - missed promotions, devastating disappointments, and failures - experiences she now sees as paramount to the success of her world-leading Entrepreneurs On Fire daily business podcast.
·Makoto Fujimura welcomes us into his studio where he practices Nihonga, “slow art” crafted using precious handmade minerals. Mako wrote his book Art & Faith; A Theology of Making, during moments of meditation and prayer—waiting for his paint to dry.
·As we learned from DeeDee Trotter, a three-time Olympic medalist, our gifts and passions are not always aligned. After embracing her gift, this “glitter-faced warrior” turned a career-ending injury into a blueprint for her remarkable success.
·Beatrice Welles, animal rights activist and sole heir of the Orson Welles Estate, reminds us of the alchemy of adversity, the potential building blocks to actualization.

Thanks for listening and your support. Continued gratitude to our sound engineer Andy Hollingworth, who gives precious time from his acting and filmmaking.

Next Episode

Wise Decisons with Dr. Jim Loehr

Dr. Jim Loehr has authored 19 books including, New York Times bestseller, The Power of Full Engagement, and his recent works, Wise Decisions, and Sapiens Reinvented.
Before embarking on his quest to merge sports psychology, research, and technology, the field of human performance didn’t exist. To fill this industry void, he created and co-founded the first ever Human Performance Institute, where he set the global standard.
Over a thirty-year span hundreds of world-class performers of sport, business, medicine, and Fortune 500 executives, trained at his state- of- the- art Florida facility. During his tenure at the institute, 400 thousand clients, teams, and organizations learned the practical adaptation of his breakthrough methods.

From professional tennis, golf, basketball, race car drivers, football, boxing, hockey, and Olympic athletes---to organizations and people seeking to live their best lives. Jim Loehr is the pioneer in the development of training programs designed to integrate the science of energy management to improve productivity and fulfillment in business, sport, medicine, and law enforcement, creating sustainable peak performance.

Dr. Loehr has been featured in national publications including, The Harvard Business Review, Business Week, Newsweek, Time, and US News and World Report. He has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, The CBS Evening News, and ABC’s Nightline.
This lifelong learner is showing no signs of slowing down after retiring his position as chairman and CEO of the Human Performance Institute. This sport performance trailblazer holds both masters and doctorate degrees in psychology. We are honored to welcome this gracious icon to this episode of Intrinsic Drive®.
Intrinsic Drive® is produced by Ellen Strickler and Phil Wharton and Andrew Hollingworth is sound editor and engineer.
Photo Credit: Patrick Loehr

Intrinsic Drive® - Reconnecting America with Rails To Trails President Ryan Chao

Transcript

Phil Wharton (00:00):

A lifetime of training, practice, study hard work through discipline, some achieve excellence, mastery, fulfillment, self-actualization. What can we learn from their beginnings, discoveries, motivations, and falls? How do they dust themselves off and resume their jo