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Hello. I'm Jon McBride
I am a musician, media producer, shared mobility consultant, strategist, and creative advocate for human growth. I bring vision and humor to the challenge of broadening perspectives and connecting people and ideas.
I am interested in shared mobility, technology, sustainability, consciousness, and funky roots music.
After a fifteen-year career in Los Angeles working in film and television music production, I relocated to Burlington, Vermont, with my wife and daughter, where I have pursued interests in community investment models, net-zero building design, and policy surrounding shared mobility, and equity, climate justice, and de-carbonizing transport and our built environment.
I am still an active musician and composer, playing saxophone and leading my own bands several times a month in performances at clubs and festivals across Vermont and upstate New York.
Media Production
I moved to San Luis Obispo, California in 1997, after working in Carnival Cruise Lines bands for two years. Soon after, I met Stan Sheldone who became an influential mentor to me. Stan grew up in New York City with Mort Lindsey and played with Mort’s band in the Catskills - a band that included vocalist, Merv Griffin. After moving to Los Angeles, Stan ran a very successful music preparation business that included working on the Merv Griffin show during its long run as well as countless albums and film and television soundtracks. This started my career working on many film and television scores as a music copyist and proofreader, composer’s assistant, studio manager, and music editor. I have worked for film composers including Lee Holdridge, Lalo Schifrin, Stanley Clarke, Don Davis, Hummie Mann, Frank Serafine, John Frizzell, Tim Jones, Bill Brown, and Frank Fitzpatrick.
I also composed and produced my own music during my 15+ years in California. I scored “The Green Goddess” (Enlightenment Films), and the award-winning short film, “Internet Dating,” as well as music for commercials and websites. I produced two Cds and an EP with the Gumbo Brothers and “The Gumbo Family Holiday Album,” a 14-song Cd featuring 25 different artists with proceeds benefiting Students Run LA. Many of these tracks have been licensed for use in film and television.
“The Gumbo Family Holiday Album” is a 14-song Cd featuring 25 different musicians/singers. Proceeds benefit Students Run LA.
“From the very first song on, it's readily apparent this is genre-busting stuff. The "Sugar Plum Fairy" kicks off the album, which itself is a bit more than bold, as how many rockers really cover Tchaikovsky? But when they add that New Orleans Second Line, that's when it becomes the kind of carol I'd go shopping on Black Friday to hear.”
– The Argonaut in Santa Monica, CA
“Funky Freedom” is a 13-song CD from The Gumbo Brothers.
"This collection of swampy funk is deep in the pocket, right where it should be. The grooves are thick, the vocals are sparse, and always add texture to the interplay between the musicians, and the vibes never get bogged down. The Gumbo Brothers say they're 'going to hit you with some ass-shakin' funk!' They got that right. Prepare yourself."
– Cdbaby
“The jazz is smooth; the vocals are gritty; the funk is thick and syrupy. If you can’t dance to this album, you just can’t dance.”
– buddyhollywood.com
“On Fire” is a 9-song Mardi Gras CD from The Gumbo Brothers.
"Hailing from Venice Beach, the New Orleans-style quartet makes the kind of saxy, wah-wah, keyboard-driven funk popular before most of today’s music buyers were born, but it doesn’t sound outdated. It’s dance music, sho’ ‘nuff, and the band’s new album never slows down"
- Berkeley Place
Shared Mobility
In the summer of 2013, after moving to Vermont, I met Matt George who had just received angel investment in his start-up college transportation service. It began in his Middlebury dorm room selling bus tickets to students to get them from campus to a city near their home and back during academic breaks using chartered coaches. The vision quickly expanded into what became an innovative microtransit platform called BRIDJ. I ran BreakShuttle and was the Director of Operations and later, Business Development for BRIDJ until 2017 when we failed to secure further investment. The intellectual property for BRIDJ was sold to a company in Australia still operating service under that brand name.
I found a buyer for the college business, BreakShuttle, and brokered the deal between the agent representing BRIDJ investors and the national transportation consulting agency, Wells & Associates headquartered in Tysons, Virginia. They purchased BreakShuttle in 2017 and hired me to lead it and consult with clients on planning, implementing, and marketing shuttle services.
I have been honored to speak at many transit conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada. I worked with the cities of Austin, Texas, and Kansas City on their Smart City Challenge bids, and contributed to the International Transport Forum report, Shaping the Relationship Between Public Transport and Innovative Mobility, presented to the ITF-OECD Governance of Transport Summit in 2017.
I left Wells & Associates at the end of 2021 but continue working with clients planning, implementing, and marketing shared mobility services that address a lack of access and equity in their communities. I am an advocate for shared and sustainable visions of mobility positively impacting peoples' lives.
TESTIMONIALS
“I had the pleasure of working with Jon on a year-long pilot program. Jon always delivers on his word and then some. On more than one occasion he was able to provide me with a strategy or data that I hadn’t considered. He’s smart, honest, and respectful at all times. I work with a lot of contracting partners and I can tell you that working with Jon is not only easy, it’s refreshing.”
Jameson T. Auten – Deputy CEO & Chief Operating Officer at the Kansas City Area Transit Authority
“Jon’s advice and counsel have been extremely useful to the University of Vermont Transportation Research Center’s efforts, especially as we work to build out competency models for future workers in the fields impacted by Smart City build-out and Shared Mobility as part of the National Transportation Career Pathway Initiative. His willingness to share network connections and provide background perspectives on innovative mobility systems being tested around the country has assisted us in the development of key educational initiatives and resulted in a fruitful exchange between our mutual work and interests.”
Glenn McRae – Director of the Northeast Transportation Workforce Center at the University of Vermont
Business Development
I am committed to transforming our built environment and reducing our resource consumption in the midst of climate devastation. I am working to build real estate investments in Vermont focused on improving the performance of buildings - for better comfort, health, durability, reduced energy consumption, and ecological impact - employing strategies ranging from targeted improvements to the building enclosure, to a deep energy retrofit that will comprehensively change the performance of a building, prolonging its value for decades to come. My goal is to build a portfolio managed and financed by a real estate investment trust that enables Vermonters to invest directly in environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous redevelopment of our communities and share in the dividends.
Why?
The United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that constructing and operating buildings accounts for nearly half of all U.S. energy consumption and fossil fuel emissions. Worldwide, building construction and operations account for 40% of carbon dioxide emissions, totaling 14 gigatons per year.
To meet the Paris agreement goals and limit global temperature rise to 1.5º C this century, we must drastically reduce our buildings’ carbon emissions. Regulating all new construction to operate at net-zero does not go far enough. Life cycle analysis demands addressing a building’s embodied carbon footprint, and the front-loading of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions during the initial cradle-to-gate phase (material extraction and manufacturing), to eliminate 50% of building sector emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. Given the timeline we have to reduce the CO2 emissions, the net present value of reducing embodied carbon far exceeds operational savings over a building’s lifespan.
Example: Even in an energy-efficient building constructed today (50% more efficient than average), 55% of its total energy consumption through 2050 comes from its initial materials and construction.
Three key strategies provide a path to achieving meaningful near-term reductions in building sector emissions: 1) repurpose and retrofit buildings wherever possible rather than constructing new ones, 2) aggressively reduce the operating emissions of existing structures, and 3) use low embodied carbon and ideally carbon-storing materials. In Vermont, retrofits using innovative, high-performance construction methods that achieve superior energy and carbon performance are an essential part of the solution to meet our carbon reduction goals.
After decades of demonstrating the benefits of net-zero design and retrofitting, we see emerging support across government, industry, and advocates for scaled-up investment. At the same time, historically low-interest rates lead to attractive financing for transformative building upgrades at the time of sale - work that goes beyond the scope of Vermont’s weatherization programs geared towards current owners.
“I have known Jon for well over a decade. While running operations and marketing for my studio and NGO, he was my voice of reason and our purveyor of invaluable biz dev strategies. Jon was admired by all of our clients and teams as the trusted go-to guy for creating solutions, getting things done, and helping everyone joyfully embrace the often-difficult challenges of doing so.”
Frank Fitzpatrick – Bestselling Author • Creative Executive • Wellness Expert • Forbes Contributor • Faculty at Singularity U’s Exponential Medicine