Avital Barnea

Avital Barnea is Senior Executive Officer for Multimodal Integrated Planning at LA Metro in Los Angeles, CA. She is an active WTS member, currently serving as a Director on the WTS Foundation Board, and previously served as President of the Washington, DC Chapter as well as in other WTS volunteer roles.

At LA Metro, Avital leads a staff of 50 transportation professionals in the areas of active transportation, complete streets & highways, regional rail, goods movement, long-range planning, transportation demand management, and parking. Her previous experience includes roles at the federal, state, and local levels, including the governor-appointed position of Deputy Secretary for Transportation Planning at the California State Transportation Agency and jobs with the US Department of Transportation and US Senate.

Avital holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography, both from the University of Minnesota.

Brennan Collier

Brennan Collier, AICP, is Senior Vice President of Strategic Sales at ATCS, Inc. In this role, Ms. Collier develops and executes business development and growth strategies across the firm's footprint from Pennsylvania to South Carolina and into emerging East Coast markets. She plays a central role in shaping ATCS's strategic direction, guiding decisions on partnerships and pursuits within the firm's key target areas. In 2021, Ms. Collier became ATCS' first female owner among the current group of eight.

A recognized NEPA and environmental compliance expert, Brennan has nearly 30 years of experience in the transportation industry. Previously, she served as ATCS's Vice President of Environmental Services before transitioning to her current strategic leadership role. Prior to joining ATCS, she served in roles with state and federal governments and consulting firms in Virginia where she directed environmental compliance and programmatic initiatives across the Commonwealth. Over the course of her career, she spent a decade as a Certified Instructor for FHWA's National Highway Institute (NHI), teaching the NEPA and Transportation Decision-Making course nationwide.

Ms. Collier is a certified planner holding the AICP designation and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Geology from George Mason University. In addition to her board role with WTS International, she serves on the boards of ARTBA's P3 Division, the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance (VTCA), ACEC Virginia, and WTS's Central Virginia Chapter.

Liz Smith

Liz Smith, P.E., serves as AtkinsRéalis’ Local Roads Growth Lead within the Roads, Bridges, and Tolls Division, where she provides national leadership for sales, marketing, staffing, and client engagement. She directs growth strategy for the Local Roads market across the United States, leading opportunity development, pursuit execution, and the positioning and capture of priority programs. Liz also partners with professional associations to advance national marketing initiatives, aligns growth strategies with staffing and delivery capacity, and serves in key leadership roles including Principal-in-Charge, Project Director, and Project Manager, providing technical review and delivery oversight.

Before joining AtkinsRéalis, Liz built a 25-year career in transportation, including a series of leadership roles at SEPTA, the nation’s sixth-largest transit agency, where she served as Chief of Staff and Assistant Treasurer of Strategic Initiatives. As Chief of Staff, she was a trusted strategic advisor to the General Manager and Executive Team and led complex, multidisciplinary initiatives requiring executive oversight. In her role as Assistant Treasurer of Strategic Initiatives, she oversaw organization-wide planning efforts, including long-range planning, strategic planning, service planning, and capital budgeting. Earlier in her career, Liz worked as a transportation engineer at DVRPC and McMahon Associates.

Liz holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Penn State University and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Villanova University, and she is a registered Professional Engineer. Her contributions to the transportation industry have been recognized through several honors, including designation as a Women in Rail honoree by Railway Age, the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Women of Distinction award, and the WTS Philadelphia Member of the Year award.

Alanna Strohecker

Alanna Strohecker, PE, MBA is AECOM’s Global Director of Surface Transportation and Goods Movement. In this role, Alanna is responsible for driving technology, sustainability and safety into the mobility solutions developed for our roadway systems as well our transportation solutions across the supply chain.  Alanna’s team sets strategic objectives and lead business development efforts for this global group of professionals.  The mission of AECOM’s Surface Transportation and Goods Movement market sectors is to leverage our planning, engineering design, and construction management expertise to develop multi-modal infrastructure and integrated logistics solutions for AECOM’s global client base. 

Alanna began her engineering career at Frederic R. Harris, a predecessor company of AECOM in 2001, upon graduation from Villanova University with a civil engineering degree.  She began working in the rail group as a new graduate and has never left the industry. 

In 2006, she took a position working for Wabtec Railway Electronics as a Program Manager, managing the existing air brake product line for various rail and transit customers.  During this time, Alanna completed her Master of Business Administration at the University of Maryland.  Following her MBA graduation in 2008, she took a position with BNSF Railway and relocated to Seattle, WA.  She worked as the Regional Manager of Economic Development for North and South Dakota, working with customers that wanted to expand their rail service with BNSF.  Over the next two years, she facilitated the development and construction of various rail facilities. 

In 2010, Alanna returned to AECOM to manage the CSXT General Engineering Contract as the Program Manager.  Over the last ten years, she has taken on roles with increasing responsibility within the Freight Rail Market Sector at AECOM.  Alanna has served as the CSXT Client Account Manager, and the US Lead for Freight Rail and in November of 2017, she became the Freight Rail Market Sector Lead for the Americas, leading busines development efforts with AECOM’s Class I, regional railroad and shortline clients across North America.  Alanna moved onto her current role as the Global Director for Goods Movement in late 2020.  In early 2024, she became the leader of the Surface Transportation Market Sector in addition to Goods Movement, in order to bring more alignment between these businesses.

Alanna is married to Mike and they have three children, Logan (11), Emma (8) and Abigail (6).  Alanna is currently the President and a member of the Board of the American Railway Development Association (ARDA).  Alanna is a member of the National Railroad and Construction & Maintenance Association (NRC)’s Policy and Legislative Committee.  Alanna is a member of AREMA and serves on Committee 24 and is also a member of WTS, an organization that advances women in transportation.  Alanna also volunteers her time on Villanova University’s College of Engineering Advisory Council. 

Janice R. Thomas

Ms. Thomas brings more than 25 years of government experience to her role as Deputy Executive Director of External Affairs/Chief of Staff, a position she assumed in March 2022. Among her key responsibilities is serving as an effective communicator and strategic advisor and planner to the CEO. Helping to manage the nation’s fourth largest commuter rail system, Ms. Thomas oversees special projects and key initiatives solving complex issues demanding executive leadership.

Among her many responsibilities, Ms. Thomas directs and manages the customer service, media relations/communications, government affairs, marketing, capital delivery, and community relations teams for Metra.

During her tenure at Metra, which began in 2010, Ms. Thomas served the agency in a variety of supervisory and managerial positions, including Chief of Staff and Senior Division Director of Business Diversity & Community Relations. In the latter role, she successfully oversaw the administration and management of community relations, the DBE program, including certifications, contract and labor compliance, outreach, and the Title VI program.

Prior to joining Metra, Ms. Thomas served as the minority and female business enterprise coordinator in the purchasing division of the University of Illinois at Chicago. She began her career in 1997 as a compliance coordinator for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS).

Ms. Thomas holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from Chicago State University. She is a certified professional public buyer (CPPB) and a professional member of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP). She is also a graduate of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Leadership Program for executive professionals and a graduate of the Eno Transit Senior Executive Program. November 1, 2022, Ms. Thomas was honored by the House of Representatives of the United States of America with a Congressional Record as a constituent of high distinction for exceptional leadership at Metra as the highest-ranking woman of color in history. Ms. Thomas is also a celebrated recipient of the Conference of Minority Transportation Official’s (COMTO) Women Who Move the Nation Award for her outstanding leadership and exemplary dedication to the transportation industry. Ms. Thomas is proud to serve as Director on the WTS International Board and the WTS Greater Chicago Advisory Board.

Amanda Vandegrift

Amanda Vandegrift is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer at WeGo Public Transit in Nashville, Tennessee. Amanda manages the operating and capital budgets for the Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Regional Transportation Authority of Middle Tennessee, both doing business as WeGo Public Transit (WeGo). WeGo’s 1,000 employees provide fixed-route bus, paratransit, commuter bus, and commuter rail services to the greater Nashville region, connecting 35,000 daily riders to their jobs, schools, doctors’ offices, grocery stores, and recreational activities. Following the November 2024 passage of the Choose How You Move voter initiative, WeGo has implemented three rounds of service expansion, launched a low-income free fare program, enhanced security coverage, created the agency’s first ever reserve fund, and initiated several capital expansion initiatives. Prior to joining WeGo, Amanda was a Partner at InfraStrategies LLC, where she established and managed a multimillion-dollar, national portfolio of major transit advisory contracts. While in this role, Amanda developed the financial and implementation plans for several national transit ballot initiatives, including Nashville’s Choose How You Move program and Charlotte’s Big Moves 2030 initiative.