President's Message: April 2023
Dear WTS-DC Chapter Members and Friends,
On behalf of the WTS-DC Board, I would like to wish all of you a happy spring and thank you for your continued support of the WTS-DC Chapter. As I continue my term as WTS-DC President, I am so proud that our chapter has continued to grow and thrive in this post-pandemic environment. The past three years have presented many challenges for us as individuals and as an organization. I want to thank our chapter board and volunteers for their hard work and dedication to our chapter and the WTS mission. Because of you, our chapter persisted through the challenges of the pandemic to emerge on the other side stronger and more resilient than ever.
In November, we joined forces with COMTO-DC and WDCSITE to host our chapter’s semi-annual bike event (Fall Professional Development Event with WTS-DC, COMTO-DC, and WDCSITE). The tour was oriented towards professional development. It started with an hour-long panel discussion featuring Christine Sherman Baker (Principal Planner and Vision Zero Program Manager at Arlington County), Christine Mayeur (Vision Zero Specialist at DDOT), and Shari Schaftlein (Director, Office of Human Environment at FHWA). Afterwards, participants embarked on a 12-mile ride to learn about the engineering, planning, and construction of local bike infrastructure. The group enjoyed spectacular weather conditions!
We also focused on the impacts of the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and its investment in electric vehicles with a panel discussion between industry leaders who are driving EV adoption around the country (Moving the Needle on Electric Vehicles). We were honored to hear from WTS-DC Legislative Committee member Nadia Anderson, PhD, Leslie Aguayo (Climate Equity Program Manager at The Greenlining Institute), Cherish Smith (Director for Energy and Sustainability and Infrastructure at Guidehouse), and Jannine Miller (Director of Planning at the Georgia Department of Transportation). These accomplished women leaders touched on topics ranging from the Biden-Harris Administration’s focus on equity and the importance of substantively engaging members of the community to the role of utilities in transportation electrification, and state support of EV adoption and the rollout of related infrastructure.
In December, WTS-DC hosted our annual Holiday Party, celebrating our 45th Anniversary! More than 275 members and friends attended the celebration. We heard remarks from Federal Railroad Administration Deputy Administrator Jennifer Mitchell and WTS International Board Chair Jannet Walker-Ford. Randy Clarke, GM/CEO of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and Kate Mattice, Executive Director of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, presented the 2022 Recognition Awards and Scholarship Awards, respectively. We awarded $19,000 in scholarships to seven deserving women in the Washington, DC area pursuing degrees in transportation-related fields. Thank you to all the individuals and companies who donated to the WTS-DC Scholarship Fund last year and to the six generous sponsor organizations who collectively funded more than $12,000 in named scholarships! Also, thank you to May El-Khattab (Burns Engineering) and Chetna Sinha (Gannett Fleming) for putting together a wonderful event to celebrate the end of 2022!
WTS-DC was very fortunate to receive significant support from so many people over the past year, and we appreciate the involvement and contributions of our membership and the larger community.
In January, WTS-DC welcomed two new Executive Board members. Cerasela Cristei (EXP) will serve as our chapter’s Treasurer, and Ellie McCurdy (VHB) will serve as our chapter’s Secretary. We are excited for Cerasela and Ellie to take on executive leadership roles within our chapter, and we are thrilled to welcome all our new board members and volunteers.
Our chapter began 2023 on a high note with an interactive professional development event featuring Shelley Row, founder and CEO of Blue Fjord Leaders (Read the Room – Communication Workshop). Shelley shared her knowledge of personal communication styles, effective communication, and trust-building with our attendees.
Our chapter will continue to provide events related to professional development, diversity, and legislation, our chapter’s signature mentoring program, and our Transportation YOU program for high school students in 2023. Please be on the lookout for emails with information on how you can engage with us in any of these programs.
I invite you to provide feedback on how WTS-DC has managed our involvement in the community in 2022 and how we can continue to serve you and our community in 2023. I hope that WTS-DC will continue to add value to the Washington, DC transportation community and meet our members and friends where they are personally and professionally. If you would like to share any comments on how WTS-DC can achieve that goal, please feel free to email me at president.wts.dc@gmail.com.
As 2023 is already underway, I wish you all well and thank you for your continued support of WTS-DC. We look forward to seeing you soon!
Best,
Katie Kraft
President, WTS-DC Chapter
Contact Us!
If you or your organization are interested in contributing to WTS-DC and would like to know how you could do so, please contact us. You can reach us through any of our social media channels listed below, or you can email me at president.wts.dc@gmail.com.