Margarita Gagliardi
PHILADELPHIA, PA—Nationally recognized public transit planner Margarita Gagliardi has joined Urban Engineers as vice president of transit planning.

Gagliardi has worked in the public transportation field for 35 years. She has been an FTA principal-in-charge for project management oversight for federally funded rail/transit projects; helped prepare environmental documentation for the Los Angeles-Anaheim segment of California High-Speed Rail; and provided oversight for an extension of MTA New York City Transit’s No. 7 subway line.

Rick Brown
PHOENIX, AZ—Rick Brown has joined Valley Metro as chief engineer/director of design and construction.

Brown has more than 37 years of public transit design and construction experience in both the public and private sectors. Most recently, he served Houston’s Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County as senior director/chief engineer over engineering and major capital projects.

Timothy Quinn
HAUPPAGE, NY—VHB announced that Timothy Quinn, P.E., has joined the firm as transportation design leader in its Hauppage office.

Quinn has 27 years of experience in designing improvements to interstate and arterial highways, secondary streets, and site roadways with specific expertise in utility relocation, highway drainage systems, cost estimates, and specifications. His experience includes the successful implementation of many large and complex transportation projects in the New York metropolitan area.

Stephen Veith
HUNTINGTON, NY—Stephen Veith has joined CooCoo Inc. as director of business development.

Veith has more than 30 years of professional sales and business development expertise, including the launch of several successful startup ventures in the technology sector.

Frank Frione
POMPANO BEACH, FL—The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority Board of Directors announced the appointment of Frank Frione by Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

Frione is chief executive officer of GFA International Inc., an engineering consulting firm founded in 1988. He received the 2010 CEO of the Year Award from the South Florida Business Journal.

Larry Fast
SALEM, OR—Larry Fast recently commemorated his 40 years as a bus operator for Salem-Keizer Transit.

Fast began his career in 1972, when he was the youngest public transit operator for the city of Salem. He has no immediate plans to retire.

John Rinard
DENVER, CO—John Rinard, P.E., has joined the International Infrastructure Group of CH2M HILL, based in the firm’s Doha, Qatar, office.

With almost 30 years of experience in engineering, construction, and program management, Rinard has worked on major transportation programs throughout North America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Australia. Most recently he was director of major programs at AECOM.

Ronald Colas
MIAMI, FL—Ronald Colas has been named a vice president in the Miami office of Parsons Brinckerhoff. He will serve as the firm’s Miami area manager, responsible for managing operations in South Florida, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

Colas has 25 years of transportation industry experience. For the past 18 years, he has successfully managed and completed a wide range of civil engineering and aviation projects, including large program management contracts.

Chris French, Don Clifford, Kiki Sprague, David Holland, Gregg Snyder
SALEM, OR—Salem-Keizer Transit (Cherriots) announced the promotion of Chris French to planning analyst and Don Clifford to operations supervisor, as well as the hiring of Kiki Sprague as rideshare assistant, David Holland as service worker, and Gregg Snyder as interim capital projects manager.
French has worked for Salem-Keizer Transit for 10 years, beginning as an operator in 2002. He was promoted to operations supervisor in 2004.

Clifford, a public transit operator since 2010, fills the position left vacant to French’s promotion. His background includes 19 years of owning his own business and a strong background in customer service.

Sprague joined Cherriots with five years experience in marketing and administration.

Holland comes to the agency after three and a half years in the automotive industry, including work as a maintenance technician and team leader.

Snyder has capital project management experience with Pierce Transit in Tacoma, WA.