Anything but Normal: How WTS-DC’s Recognition Award Winners Reflect on the Past Few Years and Their Hopes for the Future
By Jamie Rosen, Stacy Weisfeld, and Ann Patrone, WTS-DC
April 2022
The Recognitions Committee was honored to hold a panel event featuring WTS-DC 2021 Recognition Award winners on April 21, 2022, discussing the topic ‘Anything But Normal: WTS-DC Recognition Award Winners on the Past Few Years & Future Hopes.’ Panel participants included the following award winners: Matt Welbes, Executive Director, Federal Transit Administration - Honorable Ray LaHood Awardee; Liz Field, Vice President of Project Implementation & Construction, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority - Woman of the Year Awardee; Diana Mendes, Corporate President of Infrastructure and Mobility Equity, HNTB - Rosa Parks Diversity Awardee; and Alex Carroll, Complete Streets Program Manager, City of Alexandria - Innovative Transportation Solution Awardee (for Commonwealth Avenue Complete Streets). Adrienne Ameel, Senior Transportation Engineer, Kimley-Horn, Past President of WTS-DC, and Member of the Year Awardee, moderated the conversation.
The panelists had a frank and open discussion about their challenges and triumphs over the past few years, from the difficulty of supporting onsite staff to the importance of celebrating the milestones and successes as they moved forward in a virtual world. They spoke about making themselves accessible and open to staff as senior staff and leading by example to maintain work/life balance and a focus on mental health across the team. The conversation covered the need to stay flexible, pivoting to accommodate new priorities and changes in circumstances, while taking advantage of the ‘new normal’ to reflect and be more attentive to what’s going on around us.
Questions from the audience ranged from asking how mentoring and networking can be successful in a virtual environment to what advice the panelists would give young professionals. There were questions about performance management and career-building in the new work environment, and the panelists provided interesting insights on all of these topics. The final question to the panel, asking them about their hopes for the future of transportation, ended the session on a forward-looking note. While the panelists all agreed we would need a crystal ball to see whether transportation as we know it will ever go back to where it was, they celebrated the possibilities this opened up in the field. There was agreement that levels of federal funding, the experiences we’ve had, and learning from people in communities that are traditionally underserved offer important opportunities to envision a different world of transportation. Most of all, the panelists hoped we could hold on to the practices we had started during the pandemic, prioritizing time with loved ones and focusing on mental and physical health.
Both organizers and attendees agreed it meant a lot to hear how the panelists learned from and adapted to the changes of the past few years and how those experiences have shaped the way they lead. The Recognitions Committee looks forward to future discussions where our award winners can speak about the things that are important to them and get the chance to interact with WTS-DC members.
WTS-DC thanks Matt Welbes, Liz Field, Diana Mendes, Alex Carroll, and Adrienne Ameel for dedicating their time and sharing their stories with WTS-DC members and friends.