BTS Advisory Committee Welcomes Kevin Finn
If BTS had a Dean’s List, Kevin Finn would likely be on it, just as he was throughout all four years of college at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia — where he graduated magna cum laude in December 2015 with a BS in civil engineering.
You could almost say the Maryland native’s campus life, even more than his education, put him on a path that would lead to service on the BTS Advisory Committee.
Getting around Virginia Tech mostly involved walking and biking, a lifestyle vastly different from the car dependence he had known in his hometown of Damascus out in Montgomery County’s northern exurbs.
Enamored With Bethesda
Kevin’s Advisory Committee service, as a residential representative, just began in February. However, he has been volunteering with Bethesda Urban Partnership for a year, helping with a bike skills class, promoting Car Free Day, assisting with public transit marketing and more, ever since moving to Bethesda in April 2022.
Actually, his exact move-in date was April 1, but it’s safe to say he feels settling in Bethesda is the least foolish thing he’s ever done.
After college, he had tried out a few other cities, including Louisville, Kentucky, and Rochester, New York. But when he moved back to Montgomery County he quickly got hooked on Bethesda life.
“Seeing all that there is, between the streeteries and Woodmont, and then obviously being right on the Capital Crescent Trail, I was just kind of enamored with what makes Bethesda a great place to live,” Kevin said. “You can live here, you can work here, you can exercise here.”
Positive Choices
He loves being able to get anywhere he needs to go in Bethesda in 10 or 15 minutes whether on foot or by bicycle.
“As a civil engineer, it’s nice knowing that the built environment here was made with conscious choices,” Kevin added, “and I want those conscious choices to be not just about promoting business but also about promoting healthy lifestyles outside of work.”
He works at NIH, where he does design and construction management for hospital and lab spaces on campus, and usually pedals there on his hardtail bike.
His free time might find him enjoying one of downtown Bethesda’s great restaurants or heading off down the Capital Crescent Trail along the Potomac to the National Mall.
He also volunteers on the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Emerging Professionals Committee, as well as the Urban Land Institute’s UrbanPlan program.
Looking Ahead
During his service on the Advisory Committee, Kevin said he’s especially interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the laws and processes that established BUP and BTS. He hopes to use his background in proposal writing and contract management to help BTS earn grant funding for transportation projects that help keep downtown Bethesda flourishing.
“I’ve never really been involved before in my community,” said Kevin, “and it just feels like I’m being pulled in that direction. So, however I can help the organization, I want to be of service.”
