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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Who's Doing What in the Industry

CHICAGO—Megan Van Pelt has joined WSP USA as a senior vice president and director of human resources based in ­Chicago. She previously worked for Starwood Retail Partners, where she led all facets of human resources for the company’s corporate headquarters and 30 properties and was a member of the executive leadership team.


ONTARIO, CA—Sam Saghafi has joined HNTB Corporation as principal engineer in the Inland Empire region, based in Ontario. He has 20 years of experience in civil engineering, specializing in transportation engineering with an emphasis in roadway design, and was a design oversight engineer for 10 years with Caltrans.


NEW YORK CITY—Shawn Kildare has joined CH2M’s global transit and rail practice as a vice president and senior program manager based in New York City. He joins the firm after 30 years with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where he worked on the $2.1 billion extension of the No. 7 Flushing Line subway and the East Side Access project to bring MTA Long Island Rail Road commuter trains into Grand Central Terminal.


KANSAS CITY, MO—Jeffrey Boothe, president of Boothe Transit Consulting LLC in Washington, DC, has been appointed to the board of directors for TranSystems Corporation. He is a member of numerous APTA committees; chair of the Capital Investment Grants Working Group (formerly New Starts Working Group), which includes transit properties, cities and private-sector companies that support expansion of transit capital projects; and executive director of the Community Streetcar Coalition.


NEW YORK CITY—The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has named Sally Librera vice president and chief officer for the Staten Island Railway. Librera, the first woman in the Staten Island post, succeeds ­Douglas Connett, who retired in 2016.

She is a longtime employee of MTA New York City Transit, serving most recently as a vice president for subway operations support. Librera joined the MTA in 2004 as a transportation planner and advanced to leadership positions in logistics and employee development.


SACRAMENTO, CA—California Assembly member Joaquin Arambula has joined the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board of Directors as an ex officio member, appointed by Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon. He was appointed under legislation passed in 2016 that added two non-voting ex officio members to the board; the first, Jim Beall, was appointed earlier by the Senate Committee on Rules.


PLEASANTON, CA—Mott ­MacDonald has named Joe O’Carroll senior vice president and regional tunnels practice leader. He has more than 35 years of experience in heavy civil and underground construction, specializing in tunneling with tunnel boring machines and project risk management.


SAN CARLOS, CA—Gillian Gillett has joined the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, the governing body for Caltrain commuter rail, as a representative of the city and county of San Francisco, where she is director of transportation policy.


LOS ANGELES—Michael Baker International has promoted Don Sepulveda to vice president and deputy national market lead in the railroad and transit practice for the firm’s west region. He has more than 22 years of railroad infrastructure experience and joined Michael Baker in 2016 as vice president, rail and transit practice lead in the firm’s west region, after five years as executive officer of regional rail for Los Angeles Metro.


SAN FRANCISCO—WTS International recently honored Catalina Alvarado, senior public information officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), with the Rosa M. Parks Diversity Leadership Award for her 30-plus year career with the agency.

Alvarado’s accomplishments include helping craft MTC’s principles on environmental justice, launching the High School Internship Program, advancing partnerships with nonprofit groups to involve residents in low-income communities and communities of color in MTC’s long-range plans and developing MTC’s first plan to help non-English speakers access its documents and services.


ATLANTA—David Ralston, speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives, has named Rhonda ­Briggins, senior director of external affairs for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, to the House Commission on Transit Governance and Funding. This commission will study the challenges regarding public transit in the state and will provide recommendations. Briggins is also president of both the Georgia Transit Association and COMTO Atlanta.

MARTA General Manager/Chief ­Executive Officer Keith T. Parker is an ex ­officio member of the council, along with leaders from Georgia DOT and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. In addition to the ex officio members, the council will consist of six members of the state House, four representatives of transit systems or counties and four residents of the state.


NEW YORK CITY—WSP USA announced the appointments of ­Kenneth (K.R.) Marshall, a vice president and senior transportation technical manager based in Baltimore, and Wilson Wong, Texas structural/bridge engineering manager based in Houston.

Marshall has more than 35 years of experience in traffic engineering, traffic operations, ITS, transportation infrastructure design, transportation planning and telecommunications. He joins WSP after serving as a vice president and local operations manager for a large international engineering consultant.

Wong has more than 19 years of experience in project management, communication and budgeting, with an emphasis on transportation projects, civil and structural/bridge designs. Most recently he was interim office manager/structural department manager for a transportation engineering consulting firm in Texas.


NEW YORK CITY—Josée Danis has joined RATP Dev North America as vice president of business development in ­Canada. She has almost 20 years of finance and rail industry experience, beginning her career at Canadian National Railway and serving as vice president of corporate and business development for Genesee & ­Wyoming Canada Inc., a freight railroad.


BEAVERTON, OR—STV has named Ja-Mie Luey a vice president and West Coast rail and transit systems lead, based in Beaverton. Most recently he spent more than 15 years as a project and engineering manager for a large transportation design firm, overseeing passenger rail systems designs in cities including Portland, OR; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Houston; and Denver.


WINNIPEG, MANITOBA—New Flyer Industries Inc. announced the appointment of Rick Glaston as transit bus regional sales manager for central/southwest U.S., based in Fort Collins, CO. Glaston transferred from the New Flyer aftermarket sales team and has more than 30 years in the transportation industry. He was western regional director with North American Bus Industries (NABI) until 2013, when New Flyer acquired NABI and he became a territory sales representative.


CHICAGO—Transdev has named general managers for two contracts in Phoenix: Dave Todd for bus service with Valley Metro and Kate Riley for Valley Metro East Valley, Northwest Valley and regional paratransit, or Dial-a-Ride, service. Todd, most recently the agency’s assistant general manager under the Transdev contract, began his career in 1998 as a bus operator in Phoenix and held successively more responsible positions in several areas.

Riley has spent nearly 10 years with Transdev, serving most recently as assistant general manager and general manager for Sun Tran and Sun Van in Tucson, AZ. Before joining Transdev, she was Sun Tran’s human resources director for more than 25 years.


DENVER—Rich von Luhrte, senior principal, past president and emeritus board member of RNL, has announced his retirement this ­summer following 39 years with the firm.

Von Luhrte has been an architect and urban designer for 50 years. His designs include the Regional Transportation District’s East Metro Bus Maintenance Facility in Denver. He will continue to serve the firm as a consultant for specific projects.


PHOENIX—Mike James has joined the city of Phoenix’s Public Transit Department as its first BRT administrator. He has more than 20 years experience, including past work with Valley Metro and the city of Mesa. Most recently, he worked in Seattle planning and managing rail and public transit corridors, including streetcar and BRT operations.


WASHINGTON, DC—Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI) announced three new members of its board of directors.

Kenneth (Andy) Elkins, manager of hazmat compliance, Association of American Railroads (AAR) Bureau of Explosives, succeeded Michael J. Martino, who retired from AAR as senior director, operations; Martin Conway, deputy chief of Amtrak Police Department, New York Division, succeeded Michael Logue, Amtrak’s chief safety officer, who stepped down in advance of his retirement; and Suzanne Te Beau Rohde, vice president of government affairs and policy for the American Bus Association (ABA), succeeds ABA’s Clyde Hart.


KANSAS CITY, MO—HNTB Corporation announced three new employees in its Tampa, FL, office: Shawn Stover, principal engineer; Danielle Moran, public involvement manager; and Chloe Coney, public involvement specialist.

Stover has nearly 29 years of industry experience, including 12 years at HNTB, serving most recently in the Austin, TX, office as senior project manager and program management engineering manager. Moran has more than 10 years of experience as a communications professional. Coney has nearly 40 years of experience advocating for community building and neighborhood revitalization, most recently working as district director for Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL).

The firm also announced the addition of two PTC and rail experts in its Denver office: Michael Bogonovich, a senior systems project engineer with more than three decades of experience, and Michael ­Haverstick, a PTC ­systems project engineer.

Prior to joining HNTB, Bogonovich was program manager for Los Angeles Metro and program manager and senior rail systems engineer for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation. ­Haverstick’s 26 years of experience, most recently with Denver’s Regional Transportation District and Dallas Area Rapid Transit, include communication system design, specification development, project management, system installation and maintenance management.

Also, HNTB Executive Vice President Paul Yarossi has been named chairman of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association Transportation Development Foundation (ARTBA-TDF) Board of Trustees.

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