President’s Message: January/February/March 2022
Dear WTS-DC Chapter Members and Friends,
On behalf of the WTS-DC Board, I would like to wish all of you a happy new year and thank you for your continued support of the WTS-DC Chapter.
As I begin my term as WTS-DC President, I am excited for the year that lays ahead. I also am optimistic that, as the COVID-19 virus shifts from pandemic to endemic mode, this year we will gather in-person to learn, network, and socialize. I am so proud that our chapter has continued to grow and thrive despite all that has changed, and challenged us individually and as an organization, over the past few years. And I am so thankful for the hard work and dedication of our chapter board and volunteers who live the WTS mission each day.
In November, we honored President Biden’s signing the massive bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law by hosting a virtual panel event (Building Back Better: A Conversation with Leading U.S. DOT Officials). Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Acting Administrator Stephanie Pollack, Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for Safety Policy Robin Hutcheson, and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Senior Advisor Veronica Vanterpool talked about DOT’s accomplishments during the first year of the Biden Administration as well as to look ahead to upcoming priorities, goals, and implementation of the historic bipartisan infrastructure bill. The wide-ranging conversation was moderated by Joan DeBoer who was chief of staff to former DOT Secretary Ray LaHood and current Vice Chair of the Board at Building America’s Future.
In December, WTS-DC hosted our first in-person event since February 2020 —the annual Holiday Party! More than 250 members and friends attended the celebration. We premiered our chapter’s video “Why WTS-DC” and heard remarks from the Honorable Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg and FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez. Paul J. Wiedefeld, GM/CEO of WMATA, and Renee Hamilton, CEO of TRIP II, Dulles Greenway, presented the 2021 Recognition Awards and Scholarship Awards, respectively. We awarded a record amount of scholarships ($24,000 in total) to 12 deserving women in the 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 as well as 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 2021!
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.
WTS-DC is welcoming a new Executive Board member: Sophie Guiny (InfraStrategies, LLC) will serve as our Vice President. We are excited for Sophie to take on an executive leadership role within our chapter, and we are thrilled to begin the year with new board members and volunteers.
In 2022, 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 females. 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 2021 and how we can continue to serve you and our community in 2022. I hope that WTS-DC will continue to add value to the 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.
We can only guess what 2022 has in store for all of us! As this year 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.