Senior Transportation Planner |Project Manager

Expertise in project management

Comprehensive experience in public and private sector transportation planning as a Senior Project Manager and Transportation Planner with experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Founder, President and Director of a 501(c)(3) non-profit community organization. Well-versed in geographic information systems (GIS), project management, and non-profit administration. Ability to direct multiple priorities and develop innovative strategies to meet and exceed performance objectives. Adept in training staff in procedures, protocols, and project management methodology.

Core Competencies

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) | Public Policy | Project Management | Project Communications | Transportation Planning | Government/External Relations

Experience

Jefferson Park Forward, Chicago, IL

President Emeritus

October 2020 – Present

Serve as an advisory, non-voting officer on the Jefferson Park Forward Board of Directors. Assist the current JPF President and Board in policy, administration and communications. Serve as an external liaison to partner organizations.

President and Co-Founder

November 2015 – September 2020

President and Co-Founder of a new non-profit community organization in Jefferson Park, Chicago. Organized an Illinois non-profit 501(c)(3) organization through public outreach, marketing, social media, and local events.

  • Created a sustainable revenue stream by generating annual membership dues of $5,000 annually
  • Direct overall strategy and preside over a nine-member board of directors
  • Supervise five working committees in fulfillment of the organization’s mission and vision
  • Engage directly in community and economic development projects in the neighborhood as a lead agency or advocate
  • Lead web development, social media and communications strategy, directing personnel as needed
    • Cultivated following of over 1,500 unique individuals through various social outreach tools.
  • Supervised the creation of bylaws, non-profit organization and business and stakeholder outreach.
  • Develop annual work plans and monthly meeting agendas
  • Preside over Board meetings, community meetings and other public forums
  • Maintain and cultivate local partnerships with elected officials, other community groups, chambers of commerce and media.

Metro Strategies, Glen Ellyn, IL

Senior Project Manager

February 2018 – February 2019

Outreach Director for design on a $4 billion, 22-mile Central Tri-State (I-294) reconstruction project.

  • Discipline lead for public outreach. Managed overall communications and outreach strategy and coordination across the project
    • Directed a team of five communications and outreach staff
    • Implemented communications strategies and project messaging
  • Point of contact between the Illinois Tollway and local municipal and elected officials
    • Organized and managed coordination meetings, open houses and property and stakeholder meetings
    • Maintained project database of meeting minutes, team action items, and issues logs
    • Directed communications strategy for project milestones
    • Strategically anticipate and advise the client on project risk for outreach

HNTB Corporation, Chicago, IL

July 2014 – October 2016

Project Manager | Technical Lead

Project manager and senior planner working principally in the public transportation and railroad sectors.

  • Provide expert data analysis via geographic information system (GIS) tools, MS Access database, Excel spreadsheets
    • Developed and manipulated analysis models in transportation planning – land use policy, community & economic development, transportation finance
    • Provide quality control on draft plan documents, tools and spreadsheets.
  • Project Manager or Senior Technical Lead on over one dozen projects.
    • Manage work-flow across a team of multi-disciplinary professionals
    • Administer invoicing and progress reporting, project budget management, scoping and work plan development, assign staff task assignments.
    • Project budgets range from $30k to $800k.
  • Organize planning document layouts, author and edit technical reports and maps
  • Client-facing, manage stakeholder groups, collect and organize public input
  • Maintain relationships with local government stakeholders, elected officials, and partner firms

Metra, Chicago, IL

June 2008 – July 2014

Transportation Planner | GIS Coordinator

Dual role as transportation planner and GIS Coordinator for Metra’s Strategic Capital Planning Division.

  • Technical liaison on over two dozen $100K concurrent grant projects for Metra as part of the Regional Transportation Authority’s Community Planning grant program.
    • Represent the Agency at inter-governmental panels, public hearings, and open houses; primarily accountable for providing technical advice to municipalities and consulting firms hired to develop transit-oriented development (TOD), corridor studies, and transit improvement plans under the RTA grant.
    • Collaborate with 12 cross-functional senior staff within Metra to solicit and organize plan feedback.
  • One of the principal authors of Metra’s first ever Strategic Plans. Coordinate writing, research and interview tasks, led public outreach meetings, conducted data and survey analysis.
  • Conduct project management and technical liaison functions with 2 corridor studies: Eisenhower Expressway Corridor Advisory Group and Cook-DuPage Corridor Advisory Group.
    • Interface with variety of state and local government agencies, as well as major consulting and engineering firms.
  • Manage Metra’s geographic information system (GIS) data and associated databases.
    • Create and analyze GIS datasets for numerous issues, such as demographic and market analysis, political geography, and ridership analyses, as well as asset management.
    • Key point‑of‑contact for internal and external inquiries.

City of Naperville, Naperville, IL

January 2008 – May 2008

Transportation Planning Intern

Instrumental in assisting Transportation Planning Team Leader by providing basic GIS system analysis for various transportation programs, including downtown parking capacity and a towing analysis.

Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago, IL

June 2007 – January 2008

Planning Intern

Assigned to System Analysis side of Planning Department. Focused on validation of origin-destination model used on the L line to understand departure points and destinations of riders. Validation enabled tweaking operational efficiency to ensure adequate capacity and frequency of trains at any given time.

Urban Transportation Center, University of Illinois – Chicago

January 2007 – May 2007

Graduate Research Assistant

Provided a high-level of GIS support to numerous projects led by multiple principal investigators. Mapped all non-governmental transit providers throughout IL.

Lake County Division of Transportation, Libertyville, IL

August 2006 – January 2007

GIS Consultant

Functioned as consultant after leaving to attend graduate school. Involved in hiring and managing 2 entry-level Analysts and training them within 4 months in existing procedures, projects, and protocols for seamless transition in their taking over role functions.

Authored detailed technically-written procedures and in-house manuals to aid in training and future job performance.

GIS Analyst

April 2004 – August 2006

In charge of analyzing, organizing, maintaining, and coordinating multiple GIS databases. Prepared maps for public presentation and internal and inter-governmental uses.

Primary Project Manager for $250K contract to map county-wide storm sewer network; heavily involved in selecting consultant; coordinated consultant’s daily field work and provided quality control by signing off on project goals and invoices.

Instrumental in preparing County highway and bikeway maps; collaborated with consultant who created maps; reviewed and recommended cartographic design changes for this $100K project.

Cut production time 50% for cartographic products by migrating multiple GIS datasets into database-driven environment.

Improved working relationships between administrative and field staff; worked with field staff to gain buy-in and cooperation to bridge working environments resulting in more effective operation of GPS units to list and download county assets into GIS.

Served in Speakers Bureau.

External Experiences

TransportNexus.com

February 2012 – Present

Principal content developer of transportation planning and policy website focused on the nexus between land use and transportation. Executed the development of TransportNexus.com using the WordPress blogging software. Adept at using social media, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to propagate content. Regular interaction and participation in multiple local and national planning policy blogs and outlets.

Website Developer

Website developer using the WordPress platform for personal, non-profit and business websites. Develop and maintain sites as needed.

Transport Chicago, Chicago, IL

Transport Chicago is an annual conference that provides a forum for the exchange of knowledge in transportation research, policies, and practice. The conference, first held in 1986, explores a broad range of transportation modes and issues. This event regularly attracts over 200 academics and professionals from the Chicago region and beyond, offering an excellent opportunity for the transportation community to make connections and share experiences.

Vice-President

August 2008 – August 2010

Responsible for supervising registration, paper submissions, moderators, session programming and APA CM accreditation. Increased sponsorships and donations by 90% over a two-year period.

Steering Committee

August 2010 – August 2013

Participated on the organizing committee for Transport Chicago in variety of roles including registration, social media outreach, accreditation, moderator, and management.

Certifications

American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) #199455

Memberships

American Planning Association

Strong Towns

Technology Skills

ESRI ArcGIS Pro

MS Office Suite: Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, Word, Visio

WordPress

Education

Master of Urban Planning and Policy, Transportation Planning

University of Illinois – Chicago, 2008

Bachelor of Science, Geography

University of Iowa, 2003