2023 Award Recipients
Woman of the Year - Julie White
Julie White has served as the Deputy Director of Multi-Modal Transportation for the North Carolina Department of Transportation since 2017, overseeing the operations of the Rail Division, the Division of Aviation, the Ferry Division, and the Integrated Mobility Division, which includes Public Transportation and Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation. In total she oversees over 800 employees and $570 million a year in funding.
Julie has been a force for women throughout her career and in her role as Deputy Secretary she intentionally seeks out opportunities, or creates them, to promote women within NCDOT and to bring recognition to their accomplishments.
Julie is the consummate professional who promotes women in our industry who understands how to communicate women's successes in a male dominated industry.
Julie serves on the Board of Directors of the American Public Transportation Association and is the current Chair of the Southeast Corridor Commission. Through these roles, Julie demonstrates effective female leadership in the transportation industry by progressing transportation policy, regional collaboration, and project execution that advances the state of alternative transportation throughout the country.
In everything Julie does, there is a thought included on advancement of women. She has chosen many talented women to lead most of her innovative projects. She has placed her trust in women from all sectors supporting the industry. Being an active supporter of WTS and encouraging partnership has always been her priority.
Member of the Year - Eva Ingram
Eva is a member of the Roadway grant crew at Gannett Fleming.
Eva has been active among the DE&I crew, Partner's Program efforts, and sponsorship efforts for special WTS events. Eva is an integral part of the success of our annual Partners Program assisting the Fundraising Chair. She tracks commitments, follows up on benefits and plans the annual reception for our partners and special guests. Eva has worked tirelessly behind the scenes for several years keeping our partners program and sponsorship for special events successful year after year. She works directly with Mike Holder, but I believe even he would admit that she's the backbone of that operation.
Eva is ready and willing to help in any way she is asked for with a smile on her face. She believes in the mission of WTS and works hard to make our chapter financially secure.
Rookie of the Year - Katharine Mather
Katharine is in Mott MacDonald’s rail program management and transportation planning team. She is a leading contributor to the success of a variety of projects. She is also a critical part of Mott MacDonald’s South-Central Planning Team, assisting our Atlanta office with Georgia DOT NEPA documents on assigned bridge replacements, facilitating State-Amtrak Intercity Passenger Rail Committee (SAIPRC) calls regarding equipment upgrades, working with NCDOT’s Value Management Office, and assisting the NCDOT Ferry Division with various initiatives.
She currently serves on the ACEC/NC Junior Board, APA-NC and is active in WTS. She volunteers on the conference planning committee for ACEC/NC/DOT’s annual joint transportation conference, which draws over 1,000 attendees.
Katharine is a strong advocate for women in the transportation industry and promoting women’s professional advancement. She also regularly volunteers for events like Future Cities that elevate the profile of engineering and transportation planning to attract students from local public schools into the profession.
Katharine has been very involved with the chapter the last few years. She has helped organize events and is always ready to volunteer. Katharine is very involved in the industry and knows about market trends. We are glad to have her as a member of WTS.
Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award - Mott MacDonald EDI Committee
Diversity, inclusion, and multi-cultural awareness is a company-wide focus at Mott MacDonald. To advance these principles, in 2022, the company launched a 5-year equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) plan themed, “Everyone’s business,” which was endorsed by Mott MacDonald’s North America President and CEO, Mike Isola. It is an entirely employee-led EDI Committee that develops programming aligned with Advancing Gender, Race & Culture, LGBTQ+, Accessibility & Inclusion, Parents & Caregivers, and Veterans. The EDI Committee has created content on topics such as equity in engineering, women in engineering, programs recognizing our diversity of race, gender, sexual orientation, military status, and neurodiversity within the company and discussing the company-wide mission of increasing the representation of people of diverse backgrounds, particularly within leadership roles. It has also created extensive external networks with organizations such WTS, oSTEM, NSBE, SWE, and SkillBridge to achieve the broadest outreach for diverse recruitment and promote the EDI principles.
As one of the largest employee-owned A/E firms in the world, MM’s North America region exceeds the latest U.S. Department of Labor self-identified averages: Asian (19.4% vs. 13.5%), Hispanic/Latino (8.7 vs. 7.8%), and Black/African American (3.9% vs. 3.0%). And while women represent 15% of the overall U.S. engineering workforce, at Mott MacDonald women overall make up 29% and in North Carolina, women represent 33% of their team.
Innovative Transportation Solution Award - S-Line TOD Study
The S-Line TOD is developing a vision for Transit-Oriented Development along the S-Line corridor.
The S-Line corridor within NC is part of a longer corridor, the federally designated southeast corridor for high performance rail, with impacts not only in NC, but through Virginia and along the East Coast. This transformative project will have substantial impacts on growth in NC, particularly to communities along the corridor.
The project target of converting the S-Line corridor into a functional asset that provides and promotes regional connections between rural and urban communities requires a comprehensive, multimodal vision collectively as a corridor, focusing on livability, equity, and mobility. The S-Line TOD Study is identifying ways to integrate transportation systems through mobility hubs, land use planning, urban design, placemaking, and real estate and development for the overall corridor and each community. These mobility hubs will provide multimodal connections within each community, enhancing multimodal transportation options and equitable infrastructure, serving as an entry point to each community, and ensuring vibrant and thriving communities for future generations.
Under the leadership of NCDOTs Deputy Secretary for Multimodal Transportation, Julie White, Ryan Brumfield, Integrated Mobility Division (IMD) Director, is leading the project TOD Study for NCDOT.
The project is also heavily advocated by women in elected and government positions, including Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin (Mayor - Raleigh), Mayor Vivian Jones (Mayor - Town of Wake Forest), Shannon Cox (Apex - Long Range Planning Manager), and Charla Duncan (Warren County - Community and Economic Developer). In addition, the consultant leading this effort on behalf of NCDOT, Kittelson & Associates, Inc, is led by women, including Jane Lim-Yap (project principal), Caitlin Tobin (project manager), Liz Byrom (deputy project manager), and Sarah Brown (supporting staff). In addition, NCDOT has worked closely with their in-house consulting teams to help deliver such a transformative project. This includes VHB (Candice Andre, Paige Dickerhoof, Jessica Luther) and Mott MacDonald (Meredith Van Duyn, Katharine Mather).
Honorable Ray Lahood Award - Carl Gibilaro
Carl Gibilaro is a senior associate and the transportation department manager for Dewberry across the Carolinas and Georgia. Carl brings 32 years of experience in transportation planning, route feasibility studies, and environmental assessments to our growing transportation industry in the Triangle. Carl is a strong advocate for women and WTS and is an ideal recipient of the Ray LaHood Award.
Carl strives to ensure that women have the same opportunities as men. In 2022, he helped develop two programs to identify aptitudes for technical and management leadership. From these programs, he found gaps in growth opportunities for female staff, and has sought ways to decrease the gap.
Carl is approachable and willing to answer endless questions about finances, technical knowledge, or day-to-day work balance struggles. He’s generous with his time and patience. He proves he’s a true advocate for women by acting on the concerns that have been shared with him and following up days or even years later. He is truly interested in the success of the women in our office and what we desire in our careers.
Carl also has supported and encouraged our women in attending special seminars, conferences, and making sure we have the support and resources we need for the trainings, certifications, and licenses that we desire.