Annual Awards

Each year, WTS-KC honors exceptional women, members, employers, and diversity leaders who exemplify the WTS mission of equity and access for women in transportation. Save the date for the next Scholarship + Awards Celebration which will be held in Spring 2026.

Following are the categories for annual awards:

Member of the Year: Recognizes a WTS Kansas City Chapter member who has made extraordinary contributions to the success of the organization.
Woman of the Year: Honors a woman who is an outstanding role model and has contributed to the advancement of women and minorities in transportation.
Employer of the Year: Recognizes a business or agency for its support of the goals and purpose of WTS.
Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award: Honors an individual or organization that has made significant contributions in promoting diversity and cultural awareness within their organization, the transportation industry, or in a project activity that supports the goals and mission of WTS.
Honorable Ray LaHood Award: Nominees must be men who lead by example in advocating for women to compete for key positions. The nominee must contribute to the advancement of women and minorities through programs or opportunities and show outstanding contributions to the Transportation industry.
Innovative Transportation Solutions Award: Nominations must illustrate the purpose of the initiative, solution, project or policy and the number of women involved. The nomination must exhibit key elements of the project and how the female project manager successfully implemented these elements. The application must also show how the female project manager successfully met and overcame challenges and how the project achieved its purpose.

Click here to download the award nomination forms.

Nominations for next year will be due in Fall 2026. To nominate a person or organization please review the selection criteria and tell us how that person or organization meets the criteria for the award. Please send questions and submit nominations to Paige Martz.

All of the award winners and scholarship recipients are recognized at the Annual Awards Celebration.

Meet our 2026 award winners below!

Member of the Year: Allison Bruner

Allison Bruner, P.E., is a Transportation Project Manager at Burns & McDonnell and current WTS-KC Chapter President. A dedicated volunteer for over 10 years, she has served WTS as Recognitions Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice President prior to her current role. She also led the development of the chapter’s Mentorship Program that launched earlier this year, illustrating how she exemplifies WTS’s mission to support and advance women in transportation. Known for her welcoming approach, Allison strives to create an inclusive environment where all members feel valued and supported.

Woman of the Year: Lauren Krutty

Lauren is an experienced Planner focused in transit and mobility planning and policy. Demonstrated history of working with public agencies to plan and implement transit-related policies and projects. Skilled in service planning, operations, market analysis, research, grant writing, public involvement, and innovations in the industry. AICP certified with a strong background through a Masters in Urban Planning focused in Transportation and Sustainable Land Use planning from the University of Kansas.

Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award: DaVonna Moore-Edeh

Davonna C. Moore-Edeh is a nationally respected transportation leader with 25 years of experience advancing complex multimodal and freight initiatives across the public sector. She has led transformative efforts including statewide freight plans, freight strategies, and truck parking studies, helping shape more efficient, equitable, and forward-looking transportation systems.

Known for her strategic insight and collaborative leadership, Davonna has partnered with departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organizations, and municipalities to align policy, infrastructure, and community priorities. Her work consistently integrates innovation, stakeholder engagement, and practical solutions to address today’s challenges while preparing for the future.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Geography from Missouri State University and a Master of Urban Planning with an emphasis in Transportation from the University of Kansas.

Employer of the Year: Olathe

The City of Olathe exemplifies the mission and values of WTS by actively advancing women in transportation and fostering a workplace where female leaders thrive. Olathe’s commitment is demonstrated through its strong representation of women in senior leadership roles, its support of professional development, and its intentional engagement with the WTS Kansas City Chapter.

Women hold key positions across Olathe’s organization, including the Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure (Public Works) Director, Deputy Director of Infrastructure (Public Works), Exceptional Services Director, Human Resources Officer, Economy Director and Planning and Development Manager. These leaders oversee major programs in transportation, infrastructure, mobility, operations, finance and workforce development; ensuring women are actively shaping decisions that impact the future of the region. Their visibility inspires the next generation of female engineers, planners, and public-sector leaders.

Olathe’s support of WTS is both meaningful and sustained. The Director of Infrastructure (Public Works) and Deputy Director of Infrastructure are chapter members who regularly engage in programs and events, reinforcing the City’s investment in industry leadership and in elevating women’s voices. In 2024, WTS KC honored Olathe’s Deputy Director of Infrastructure as Woman of the Year, recognizing her impact in championing diversity, advocating for inclusive transportation solutions, and mentoring women and minorities within the field. Her recognition reflects the broader culture of empowerment and opportunity cultivated throughout the City.

Olathe also encourages and supports employee participation in professional organizations, providing flexibility, training opportunities, and financial backing for continuing education. The City’s commitment to mentorship, succession planning, and equitable hiring practices further strengthens the pipeline of women entering and advancing within transportation careers.

By promoting women into high-impact roles, investing in their growth, and modeling what inclusive public-sector leadership should look like, the City of Olathe stands out as a genuine champion for gender equity in transportation. Their leadership and organizational values make them an outstanding candidate for the WTS Kansas City Chapter Employer of the Year

Innovative Transportation Solution: SS4A Project - Burns & McDonnell and KCMO

The City of Kansas City, Missouri’s Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Supplemental Planning Project is transforming how the City approaches transportation safety, policy, and design. Led entirely by women—Maggie Green (Project Manager), Tawn Nugent (Project Advisor), Jessica Hutton, PE, RSP1 (Senior Safety Advisor), Allison Karagiorgas, PE, PTOE (Safety Analyst), Kylie Clark (Transportation Planner), and Allison Bruner, PE (Transportation Design Engineer)—in partnership with Bailey Waters, former Chief Mobility Officer for the City of Kansas City, this initiative demonstrated how collaborative, female-led leadership can drive systemic change.

The project’s standout achievement is the creation of Kansas City’s first-ever comprehensive Streets Design Guide, a landmark document that unites engineering practice, design philosophy, and community priorities under one cohesive framework. This guide redefines how Kansas City designs its streets, embedding equity and safety in every project. It has already become a model for other municipalities in the region seeking to modernize their roadway design standards.

Equally important, the project’s leadership model represents innovation beyond the technical realm. By aligning six women across consultant and client teams, it established a culture of inclusion, collaboration, and shared accountability. This approach broke down long-standing silos between City departments and set a new standard for how Kansas City delivers public infrastructure—through cooperation, data transparency, and intentional engagement. Together, these outcomes make the Kansas City SS4A project a national example of how women’s leadership can turn ambitious safety goals into lasting urban transformation.

Honorable Ray LaHood Award: Kip Strauss, HNTB

Howard Lubliner is a practice lead in the Transportation group at Burns & McDonnell, bringing more than a quarter century of experience in transportation engineering in both the public and private sector. He is a nationally recognized leader in quantitative safety analysis and the application of the Highway Safety Manual, with a focus on implementing safety countermeasures in diverse environments. Howard has served in leadership roles for numerous national research panels, engineering societies, and civic organizations including TRB, NCHRP, ASCE, Future Cities and Habitat for Humanity. He has also been instrumental in shaping the next generation of engineers through more than a decade of teaching experience at the University of Kansas. Howard and his wife, Emily, live in Lawrence, Kansas, with their two children, Margot and Duncan.