David Samson
WEST ORANGE, NJ—David Samson has stepped down as chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New ­Jersey, a position he held since 2011.

Samson is a partner and founding member of the law firm Wolff & ­Samson. He served as New Jersey attorney general in 2002-2003.

Heather Rothenberg
WASHINGTON, DC—Sam Schwartz Engineering announced the appointment of Heather Rothenberg as senior transportation engineer.

Rothenberg has 15 years of leadership and management experience in transportation organizations, most recently as a data and policy analyst with the FHWA Office of Safety. She has also worked for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the University of Massachusetts Traffic Safety Research Program, and the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center.

She has received honors including the 2013 Jane F. Garvey Award for Outstanding Woman in Transportation (University of Massachusetts) and the DOT Secretary’s Award in both 2010 and 2013.

Jeff Seward
TAMPA, FL—The Tampa Bay Business Journal has recognized Jeff Seward, chief financial officer, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART), as its 2014 CFO of the Year in the government agency category

Seward has more than 25 years of local government, private-sector, and military experience, providing leadership for areas including financial ­advising, strategic planning, economic development and auditing. He joined HART in 2011 after serving as chief financial planning officer for Sarasota County, FL.

Andrée Blais
LOS ANGELES, CA—Nossaman LLP has named Andrée Blais to its Infrastructure Practice Group. She brings extensive experience in advising on the development and ­implementation of public-private partnerships (P3s) in Canada.

Blais began her law career as a law clerk for Justice Frank Iacobucci of the Supreme Court of Canada. She subsequently became involved in P3 issues during her career with the Alberta provincial government.

Alex Briseño, Doug Poneck, Lou Miller 
SAN ANTONIO, TX—The Board of Trustees for VIA Metropolitan Transit elected Alex Briseño as its chair. Briseño served almost 11 years as San Antonio city manager and is now professor of public service in residence at St. Mary’s University.

The board also elected local attorney Doug Poneck vice chair and businessman Lou Miller secretary. Both Poneck and Miller represent the city of San Antonio.

Kelley Rehm
DENVER, CO—­Kelley Rehm, P.E. has joined CH2M HILL as North America business development lead for its Bridges and Major Crossings practice.

Rehm previously was program manager for bridges and structures with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

Sam Joumblat
LOS ANGELES, CA—Sam ­Joumblat is joining Metrolink commuter rail as chief financial officer and treasurer. Joumblat has been with the city of Long Beach since 2003, serving as chief financial officer for the Port of Long Beach since 2006.

He has 30 years of business and engineering experience. A certified public accountant and internal auditor, ­Joumblat began his career as an engineer with Rockwell International before transitioning to business, auditing, and finance with the Atlantic ­Richfield Company and later with Arthur ­Andersen LLP.

Larry McCallon
LOS ANGELES, CA—The Southern California Regional Rail Authority Board of Directors, the governing body of Metrolink, elected Highland Mayor Pro Tem Larry McCallon as its chair, succeeding San Bernardino Mayor Patrick Morris.

McCallon has served on the Metrolink board since 2010 as a representative of the San Bernardino Association of Governments (SANBAG). He is a past president of both SANBAG and the Southern California Association of Governments.

Leslie Browder
AUSTIN, TX—Leslie Browder is joining the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro) as its new executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Browder comes to the agency from Travis County, TX, where she served as executive manager of planning, budgets, human resources, information technology, and facilities management. She worked for the city of Austin for almost 20 years as deputy chief financial officer, then chief financial officer, and previously served Capital Metro as chief financial officer from 1998 to 2001.

Mike Zabaneh
PASADENA, CA—Parsons has promoted Mike Zabaneh to vice president in its road and highway division, based in the firm’s San Francisco office. He is currently the design manager for the first segment of the California High-Speed Rail project.

Zabaneh has 29 years of experience in both civil and transportation engineering.

Alex Ward
INDIANAPOLIS, IN—REO-USA announced the appointment of Alex Ward as a technical sales engineer.

Ward previously worked for ABB Inc., a Wisconsin based global power and automation technology company, most recently as a senior field service engineer. He joined the company in 2009 after graduating from Purdue University with a degree in industrial engineering.

Mark Yalung, Joseph Willhite, Jeffrey Schechtman, Angel Velazquez, Rock Antonios
NEW YORK, NY—Parsons ­Brinckerhoff (PB) has announced the following hires and promotions:

Mark Yalung has been named Arizona area manager, managing the operations of the Tempe and Tucson offices. Yalung has 27 years of transportation engineering design and project management experience, 15 years at PB, currently serving as an assistant vice president and project manager.

Joseph Willhite has been named deputy regional business manager for the firm’s Texas/­Mountain Region, based in ­Austin. He previously was a consultant with PB’s public finance group. Willhite has more than 10 years of transportation and land use consulting experience, working on multimodal planning projects in cities across the nation.

Jeffrey Schechtman has been named deputy regional business manager for the Southeast Region, based in the Atlanta office. He is a PB vice president who previously served as director of the firm’s U.S. Ports and Marine Division.

Angel Velazquez has been named a principal technical specialist in the company’s Newark, NJ, office. He has more than 27 years of experience in the railroad and transit industry as a railroad signal specialist and lead designer. Prior to joining PB, he served in increasingly responsible roles with MTA New York City Transit.

Rock Antonios has been named a senior project engineer in the firm’s New York City office. He has worked in transportation design and construction for more than 25 years and joins PB after serving as a department head and group leader with several inter­national engineering firms.

Mark Hughes, Osby Davis, Jesus (Jess) Malgapo, Pippen Dew-Costa, Helene Buchman
BENICIA/VALLEJO, CA—Benicia City Councilmember Mark Hughes has been elected chairperson of the Solano County Transit (SolTrans) Board of Directors. Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis was elected vice chairperson.

Vallejo Councilmembers Jesus (Jess) Malgapo and Pippen Dew-Costa also joined the SolTrans board. Malgapo and Davis are the primary representatives from the city, while Dew-Costa will serve as an alternate.

Also, Helene Buchman has joined SolTrans as its planning and operations manager. She previously worked for Gold Coast Transit, Oxnard, CA, as planning and marketing director for more than seven years.

Denis J. Meyers
ALLENTOWN, PA—Denis J. Meyers, assistant executive director, development, for the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA), has retired after more than 38 years with the agency.

Meyers joined LANTA in July 1975 as director of marketing. Over the years, he advanced in responsibilities and served as director of special projects and director of development before being appointed to his most recent post in 1990.