Trailblazers
The 2025 Trailblazers in Transportation
Local leaders keeping New York on the move.
From left to right: Abul Islam, Nicole Yearwood and Marcos Díaz González AI Engineers, Inc.; Jeong Park; Ron Goodman
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How New Yorkers get around is no simple matter. The downstate region has a complex, interconnected transportation network made up of subway and bus lines, commuter railways, airports, ferry routes, bike lanes and pedestrian walkways as well as roads, highways, bridges and tunnels. The less dense upstate region relies more heavily on cars, but also features connections via trains, planes and many other modes of transportation.
How New Yorkers should get around is even more complicated, and the question is the subject of never-ending policy debates. The recently implemented congestion pricing program in Manhattan, for example, has pitted drivers against subway riders, suburbanites against urbanites, Republicans against Democrats. Other issues center on pedestrian and cyclist safety or the transition to more sustainable transportation. And then there’s the matter of determining the scope and shape of major transportation capital projects and securing enough federal, state and local funding.
City & State’s inaugural Trailblazers in Transportation, researched and written in partnership with journalist Aaron Short, highlights the key players in this space, including urban planners, labor leaders, industry advocates and other innovators rebuilding and rethinking New York’s transportation systems.
Cira Angeles
For more than two decades, Cira Angeles has been a passionate advocate for New York City’s immigrant-owned livery businesses. As the spokesperson for the Livery Base Owners Association, which represents 250 livery bases in the city, Angeles was a key advocate for the 2012 green cab bill, which allowed those vehicles to pick up passengers uptown and in the outer boroughs. More recently, Angeles has pushed for insurance reforms in the sector, including a bill the City Council passed this year that would lower the amount of personal injury insurance livery drivers are required to maintain.
James Aresta
James Aresta has helped Transdev North America rapidly expand to become the largest private sector operator of public transit in the country. In January 2024, Aresta was promoted to lead Transdev’s technology and innovation division, which came after the company acquired First Transit in 2023 and renewed its contract to maintain Nassau County’s bus service. In June, Transdev authorized the sale of a 32% stake in the company to a German conglomerate, further shaking up the industry.
Matt Berlin
Matt Berlin is inspired to make New York City’s school buses more sustainable. The former Citi Bike general manager and city Department of Education executive launched his nonprofit, New York City School Bus Umbrella Services, in 2021 to acquire a school bus fleet and apply advanced metrics to improve performance. Last year, Berlin helped the city secure $77 million in federal grants to electrify school buses and build charging depots. Now he’s partnering with Together for Safer Roads to launch a pilot outfitting buses with artificial intelligence-powered cameras to make roads safer for vulnerable users.
Geoff Berman
Geoff Berman isn’t afraid of a tough challenge. Berman ran the state Democratic Party before joining Lyft in 2020 as demand faltered during the COVID-19 pandemic. He advocated for lower personal injury protection requirements and other insurance reforms, supported congestion pricing and navigated a $328 million wage theft payout for Uber and Lyft drivers in 2023. Lyft offered a $1.50 credit to offset Manhattan tolls in January, and the New York City Council passed a bill in June lowering for-hire vehicles’ insurance requirements in line with Berman’s testimony.
Virginia Borkoski
When Virginia Borkoski joined Hatch last year, she brought a breadth of experience managing and consulting on some of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s most prominent megaprojects for the Toronto-based engineering consulting firm. Borkoski previously helped complete the Second Avenue subway extension and Cortland Street No. 1 train station and launched the MTA Construction and Development’s external partner program. At Hatch, Borkoski has won over $200 million in transit business in New York. She’s also development chair on the board of the Friends of the New York Transit Museum.
Christopher Boylan
Few people know the ins and outs of heavy construction and transit contracting like Christopher Boylan. After a 20-year career at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Boylan joined The General Contractors Association of New York in 2011 to represent construction companies with more than 20,000 unionized trades members who helped replace the Tappan Zee, Goethals and Kosciuszko bridges. Boylan’s association recently criticized the Trump administration’s tariffs on foreign steel and lumber for costing future construction jobs and halting projects in the state.
Andy Byford
Andy Byford’s return to New York this spring was surprising, but not for a lack of need. When the Trump administration took control of the $7 billion Penn Station redevelopment from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority this year, it needed someone from Amtrak to oversee it with expertise in intercity rail and New York City’s operations. Enter Byford, who previously led the city’s subway system for two years before quitting after conflicts with then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Now he’ll be back to managing some of the biggest egos in New York.
Chantel Cabrera
Chantel Cabrera has emerged as a key leader ensuring the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s long-term plans to boost ridership stay on track. She joined the MTA in 2023 after serving as Pace University’s public affairs director and an aide to state Sen. Brian Kavanagh. She has since led several capital projects, and is now heading up a billion-dollar installation of modern, wide-aisle fare gates in subway stations. Cabrera also crafted fare evasion solutions, including vertical fins and turnstile arm sleeves, and drove the MTA’s “Ride inside, stay alive” campaign against subway surfing.
Michael Carrube
Michael Carrube has been fighting for better wages and working conditions for New York City’s subway and bus supervisors since he joined the Subway-Surface Supervisors Association in 2007. After a 15-month negotiation with Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials, Carrube secured a new contract in 2023 with a total of a 9.5% raise over four years for his 4,200 members. Last year, Carrube was reelected to a third consecutive term as president. He also successfully advocated for the state to increase penalties for assaulting a transit worker.
John Chiarello
John Chiarello took over at Transport Workers Union Local 100 in February after his predecessor resigned earlier this year, but he is no newcomer to the labor movement. Chiarello started as a provisional car inspector in 2001, then became a signal maintainer before being elected to the executive board the following year. He has vowed to fight for workers’ rights ahead of the union’s contract negotiations with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, lobbied for 300 additional workers to fix up subway stations and recently met with the New York City Police Benevolent Association to discuss improving safety for transit workers.
Seif Chowdhury
Seif Chowdhury founded his own engineering firm in 2017 after managing some of the Northeast’s most significant bridge and rail projects in the 21st century. Chowdhury has previously worked as a tunnel field inspector on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $11.6 billion East Side Access project for Grand Central Madison and Amtrak’s principal engineer on its $30 billion Gateway Program. At SC Engineers, he assisted with Amtrak’s Sunnyside Yard upgrades, the MTA’s Canarsie tunnel rehabilitation and upgrades to the MTA’s Robert F. Kennedy Bridge.
Peter Cipriano
There are many competing visions for the rehabilitation of Penn Station, but Peter Cipriano has been carefully maneuvering for his firm to come out on top. In 2023, Cipriano’s ASTM North America announced its $6 billion proposal that would overhaul the transit hub by demolishing the Theater at Madison Square Garden and be less expensive than the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s plan (the MTA wasn’t a fan). Since then, Cipriano has been promoted to executive vice president at ASTM affiliate Halmar International while Amtrak has taken control of Penn Station’s future.
Marc Cohen
Marc Cohen has been a key voice on O’Donnell & Associates’ leadership team since joining the firm in September. The former Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce staffer has taken on the role of advocating in Albany for more investment to improve mobility and transit access upstate as well as working with the upstate lobbying firm’s transportation clients, including the Regional Transit Service and railway technology firm Alstom, and Cohen also serves on the boards of the Highland Hospital Foundation and Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester.
Donnett Cox
Since joining HNTB’s New York metro office a decade ago, Donnett Cox played a crucial role overseeing the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s $13 billion overhaul of John F. Kennedy International Airport. Cox managed the renovation of a three-story, 206,000-square-foot office building that would serve as the nerve center for the airport’s redevelopment headquarters. In 2023, Cox was promoted to group director and moved to HNTB’s New Jersey office where she continues to support the Port Authority, the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.
Demetrius Crichlow
Demetrius Crichlow made history in October 2024 when he became the first Black person to lead the 120-year-old New York City subway and bus system. The third-generation transit employee started his career as an assistant signal maintainer for the Long Island Rail Road before becoming president 27 years later. Crichlow has sought to improve on-time performance, reduce fare evasion and combat subway surfing. He’s currently informing Queens passengers about the borough’s bus network redesign, which launched June 29.
Scott Cullinane
Scott Cullinane is quickly becoming a leader in using autonomous technology to enhance project design and make infrastructure inspections safer. Cullinane joined Skydio in 2021 after five years at the cloud-based software company Netsuite and has helped the drone manufacturer become more engaged with construction monitoring and emergency response to expedite project timelines. This year, Skydio won a $74 million contract to supply drone technology to the U.S. Department of State and partnered with MFE Inspection Solutions to operate drone inspections across the country.
Matthew Daus
Matthew Daus has sought to modernize how New Yorkers move throughout the city and make mobility more equitable throughout his career. The former chair of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission has contributed research on congestion pricing and curb management strategies at John F. Kennedy International Airport, proposed ways to reform the Interborough Express and advanced integrated payment systems. Daus recently criticized the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for not exempting private bus lines or taxis from congestion tolls and has been a proponent of introducing Waymo’s self-driving taxis in New York City.
Lionel Deperrois
Lionel Deperrois had a front-row seat to some of the most exciting changes transforming cities and their public transportation systems. Starting in 2012, Deperrois had been chief operating officer of Flowbird America, a cloud-based program that helps cities manage their parking and transit systems and ease traffic congestion. This spring, Flowbird was acquired by the EasyPark group, expanding mobile paid parking machines and other public transit features to more cities around the world, and in June, the combined company rebranded as Arrive.
Christopher Desany
Since coming aboard the Capital District Transportation Authority in 2007, Christopher Desany has helped modernize upstate’s largest transit system. Over the past year, the CDTA opened a mobility hub on South Manning Boulevard, changed the fare structure in Warren County after merging with Greater Glens Falls Transit and continued upgrading its bus and bike share fleet. The CDTA reported more than 18 million boardings in the previous fiscal year, a record. Desany also has a new boss, with Frank Annicaro coming on as the new CEO earlier this year.
Marcos Díaz González
Marcos Díaz González is poised to lead a passenger rail resurgence, thanks to a federal influx of nearly $1.5 trillion in funding to upgrade intercity transit along the Northeast corridor. Díaz González was promoted to lead STV’s Northeast division in January after joining the design and civil engineering firm four years ago. This year, STV helped the Metropolitan Transportation Authority complete a new passenger tunnel at Grand Central Terminal and launched an Advisory Services practice to help clients make their fleets and facilities electric and emissions free.
Kathleen Dobbels
Kathleen Dobbels is passionate about making roads safer and cracking down on dangerous drivers through the deployment of lifesaving technology. She joined Verra Mobility in 2023 and has overseen the installation and maintenance of New York City’s red-light camera and the state’s work zone enforcement programs. Thanks to state legislation signed last year, the city is expanding its number of red-light and speed cameras at an additional 450 intersections and Dobbels ensured Verra met the requirements to be selected by the city for the job.
Chad Dobbs
When Chad Dobbs came aboard Uber in 2013, the major ride-hailing company only operated in 65 American cities. A dozen years later, it is present in more than 10,000 municipalities all over the world. Dobbs has helped Uber become an indelible part of New York’s culture. He also unveiled an emergency call button for Massachusetts drivers in 2019. This past year, Uber supported congestion pricing, negotiated a 5% raise for drivers and pushed for New York City to lift the cap on the number of ride-hailing vehicles allowed – as long as the additional ones are electric.
John Evers
For John Evers, every week is infrastructure week. Before joining the New York branch of the American Council of Engineering Companies in June 2021, he advocated for New York’s transportation, technology and construction companies as the Business Council of New York State’s top lobbyist. Now that he represents some 300 engineering firms, Evers called for $800 million in the state’s capital plan for road and bridge repairs as well as the adoption of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s five-year capital plan. At ACEC’s annual gala in April, he celebrated the civic professionals who restored the Brooklyn Bridge.
Mike Finley
Boingo is a whimsical name, but providing antenna and wireless services to more than a billion people is serious business. Mike Finley became the Texas-based wireless company’s CEO in 2019 after serving as Qualcomm’s president for nearly five years. In New York, Boingo has provided 5G and Wi-Fi networks to enable passengers to use mobile boarding passes and send emails at New York’s airports, Grand Central Madison and the Long Island Rail Road’s Atlantic Branch. Recently, the connectivity intelligence company Ookla recognized Boingo’s airport wireless networks for its speed and performance.
Michael Fleischer
Michael Fleischer came to Brown & Weinraub’s Albany office after spending more than eight years running the state Thruway Authority and another two years helping manage the state Department of Transportation. Fleischer helped implement the Thruway’s first successful toll modification program in two decades while expanding the E-ZPass fare collection system. Now at the state’s top-ranked lobbying firm, Fleischer has facilitated the use of more sustainable pavement treatments and assisted clients with permitting along state highways and securing reimbursements costs on a highway project.
Tomas Fret
When Tomas Fret became head of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181-1061, a transit workers union, in 2022, he sought to restore job protections for school bus drivers that had been eliminated in 2013. Fret threatened a school bus strike in August 2023 before reaching an agreement with bus companies for wage increases and other protections, avoiding disruptions for 800,000 kids. Fret was reelected president by his members in June, and the union is currently planning its convention for August.
Adam Gibson
For more than two decades, Adam Gibson has helped make Kimley-Horn one of the nation’s premier engineering and urban design consultancies. Gibson contributed several initiatives to improve Newark Liberty International Airport’s consumer experiences, assisted in Terminal A’s redevelopment and served as lead traffic engineer for building a new consolidated rental car facility. His collaboration with Hoboken to implement street safety designs and eliminate traffic deaths has become a successful model for Vision Zero programs nationally.
Adam Goldstein
The next flying taxi you see clearing the Chrysler Building might just be one of Adam Goldstein’s. In April, the Archer Aviation CEO unveiled his plans for an air taxi network that would transport passengers from Manhattan helipads to airports throughout the metropolitan area in five to 15 minutes. Goldstein told Fox Business this spring that his goal is to launch the electric taxis commercially in Abu Dhabi later this year and bring the service to the United States next year. He also announced Archer would provide air taxis for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Ira Goldstein
For more than 15 years, Ira Goldstein has ensured that livery and limousine drivers can tap into crucial benefits when they need them. Goldstein has managed The Black Car Fund, which offers disability, accident, dental, vision and workers’ compensation insurance to more than 100,000 for-hire drivers. He has repeatedly expanded the benefits under the program, most recently adding hearing care and virtual primary care. He also secured a passenger surcharge increase to cover the costs, which a U.S. appeals court upheld in a decision last year.
Peter Goldwasser
Peter Goldwasser has been at the forefront of policies that eliminate traffic deaths by redesigning trucks. The Brooklynite joined Together for Safer Roads in 2022 and announced a partnership with VisionTrack on a pilot using artificial intelligence-powered cameras to reduce blind zones on commercial trucks. Goldwasser has since expanded the organization's FOCUS on Fleet Safety training initiative. In April, Goldwasser launched a new leadership group advocating for truck fleets to adopt improved designs.
Donovan Guin
IBM may be best known for its iconic mainframes, omnipresent supercomputers and business consulting services, but executives like Donovan Guin have helped bring the venerable technology company’s digital innovations into the world of transportation.
Donovan Guin has helped share IBM’s technological innovations in cloud and edge computing and SAP solutions with government agencies to make travel through their airports, transit systems and toll roads more efficient and reduce risk. Now he’s working to implement smart city initiatives at a wider scale.
Marc Herbst
Marc Herbst understands the economic engine of New York’s most populous suburbs doesn’t run on its own. Since joining the Long Island Contractors’ Association in 2006, Herbst has passionately advocated for the construction workers who repair its highways, rails and bridges. He called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to boost transit funding in her budget proposal after Long Island received a third less than the previous year. Herbst, who is also a Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member, insisted the transit authority assist in Penn Station’s redevelopment to ensure Long Island commuters won’t have their service disrupted.
Rick Horan
Rick Horan is not giving up the dream of a resurrected transit line in Queens easily. Some activists want to turn the defunct Long Island Rail Road Rockaway Beach branch into a 3.5-mile park. But Horan has argued that reconnecting Ozone Park and Rego Park would economically benefit working-class residents who could get to midtown Manhattan more quickly. This year, the state Legislature added $100,000 to a U.S. Department of Transportation pilot program that would evaluate a revived transit line.
Kashif Hussain
Kashif Hussain understands that when New Yorkers complain about Con Edison blackouts, extreme flooding and other failures of public infrastructure they need someone with the technical expertise to solve their problems. He joined the New York City Public Advocate’s Office in 2019 after stints with the city Department of Environmental Protection and the Port Authority as a mechanical engineer. Hussain has since fought alongside taxi drivers for debt relief, worked to implement the McGuiness Boulevard safety redesign and pushed the mayor and Department of Transportation to build more bus and bike lanes.
Frank Ingrassia
Frank Ingrassia founded Clever Devices in 2008 with a mission to help public transportation systems reduce their costs and provide more efficient service. In 2023, the software developer secured 46 kilowatts of hydropower through the New York Power Authority’s ReCharge NY program in exchange for expanding its Woodbury headquarters’ computing capacity. The company has since introduced its state-of-the-art Intelligent Transportation System to bus and rail fleets in southwest Florida, Brazil and northern Indiana to improve the passenger experience.
Abul Islam
Abul Islam founded AI Engineers more than three decades ago to design bridges, highways, transit networks and bike infrastructure. His Middletown, Connecticut-based firm has provided planning and design services for the LaGuardia Airport redevelopment, improvements to the Long Island Rail Road and the reconstruction of the Tide Gate Bridge in Queens. Islam has been outspoken about the role immigration plays in easing Connecticut’s labor shortage and embracing diversity to improve workplace operations and development.
Richard Jaffe
Richard Jaffe’s Advantage Engineering Associates has been advantageous for key infrastructure projects in New York and New Jersey. Since Jaffe joined AEA in 2016 after spending much of his career at the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the firm has worked on the lighting design of LaGuardia Airport’s bridges and parking lots, helped restore the Queens-Midtown Tunnel and replaced elevators and escalators across PATH. More projects rely on Jaffe’s expertise, especially as New Jersey officials move forward with a $11 billion plan to widen the Newark Bay-Hudson County Extension.
Michael Joseph
Michael Joseph has been making the New York area’s airports more efficient and passenger friendly for the past 15 years. Joseph’s ABM Aviation has provided professional cleaning and maintenance assistance for the region’s airports by sprucing up airplane cabins and gates, managing parking facilities as well as offering transportation and valet services. This month, the company inked deals to provide janitorial and facility services at Miami International Airport as well as parking and shuttle services at Orlando International Airport.
Christos Karmis
For nearly two decades, Christos Karmis has helped lead the rapid expansion of what’s now Boldyn Networks, a private fiber and 5G wireless network provider. The international firm is responsible for a $1 billion digital infrastructure upgrade that will improve connectivity within the 418 miles of New York City’s subways. In September, Boldyn Networks partnered with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to provide 5G wireless service on the shuttle between Times Square and Grand Central.
Richard Kennedy
Richard Kennedy has helped Skanska become one of the largest and most sought-after construction firms in the United States. Kennedy joined the Swedish-based company in 2004 as a general counsel and worked his way up to lead its American operations in 2018. Since then, Skanska won a $1.6 billion contract to oversee construction of a life sciences and research campus in Kips Bay and the company pioneered tunneling techniques to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority open up new subway station exits.
Maria Lehman
Over the past four decades, Maria Lehman has been a national leader in the field of civil engineering in both the public and private sectors. The former state Thruway Authority acting executive director and past president of the American Civil Society of Engineers joined the civil engineering firm GHD five years ago to develop its transportation and water infrastructure as well as encourage more women to become engineers. In 2022, Lehman was appointed by then-President Joe Biden to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council and was elected a member of the National Academy of Construction.
Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann is the third generation of his family to manage the nation’s oldest independent electric contractor. The E-J Group has served as a design-builder and contractor for the Long Island Rail Road’s East Side Access project, Amtrak’s Moynihan Train Hall and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Second Avenue subway 96th Street station. Mann has also worked on a handful of renewable projects, including JFK Airport’s Terminal One microgrid and the new Jamaica Bus Depot. His E-J Group continues to expand, acquiring State Electric Corp. in November.
Kate McBride
Kate McBride started the Transportation Safety Planning and Solutions Group in 2018 to help children travel to school without worry. McBride, who previously managed a ground transportation company for a decade in Denver, has worked with school districts to complete state-required documentation, improve the safety of school bus fleets and educate Long Island drivers to yield to school buses on the road. She’s also a transportation consultant and the chief administration officer at McBride Consulting and Business Development Group, a major lobbying and consulting firm with offices in New York City, Albany and Long Island.
Bill McMenamin
Bill McMenamin has helped make GPI one of the best workplaces in the state and an essential engineering and construction services firm providing highway and transportation planning services since its founding 60 years ago. McMenamin has been with GPI for nearly half its existence, managing a team of 60 transportation engineers and planners while ensuring that traffic-related designs are sound and durable for decades to come. This year, GPI acquired DesignTech, which will expand its work designing data centers and communications buildings.
Zach Miller
Since joining the state’s trucking association in 2018, Zach Miller has fought for the interests of New York’s truck drivers. Miller has advocated for no-emissions vehicles as well as truck charging infrastructure to be installed along the New York State Thruway. This year, Miller supported a $7,500 tax credit for truckers, praised a New York City overnight truck parking pilot and argued that without offsets, congestion pricing was a costly burden on trucking companies.
Ignacio Montojo
For the past decade, Ignacio Montojo has worked with developers, investors and government officials to execute large-scale infrastructure projects around the world. The HR&A Advisors senior principal worked with Uber in 2023 to lead an assessment of New York City’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure. He has co-chaired the Urban Land Institute’s New York Infrastructure Council and has worked on transit agency funding in Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica.
Suzette Noble
Suzette Noble has done the unthinkable by making LaGuardia Airport a welcoming beacon for travelers. The Queens airport was once considered one of the worst hubs in the nation before the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey embarked on an $8 billion redevelopment. Noble, who joined LaGuardia Gateway Partners, which manages the redevelopment of Terminal B, in 2021 and became CEO two years later, ensured passengers experienced world-class service with new dining and lounge options. In February, Skytrax awarded LaGuardia five stars.
Finbarr O’Carroll
Finbarr O’Carroll has made Jenoptik one of the leading optical technology companies bringing innovative solutions to municipalities looking to reduce crashes. Since joining the company in 2017, O’Carroll worked with the New York City Department of Transportation to install speed cameras in school zones within a year to support its Vision Zero program. More recently, O’Carroll has worked with the government of Ecuador on a 12-year road safety project and installed a speed enforcement system in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Robert Paaswell
Robert Paaswell embodies the pinnacle of scholarship and civic good that the CUNY hopes to attain. Since 1990, the civil engineering professor led City College’s University Transportation Research Center before retiring two years ago. The Charles B. Rangel Infrastructure Workforce Initiative founder has served on a Port Authority expert review panel, advocated for a modern redesign of Penn Station and consulted on rail access to LaGuardia Airport. He served as executive director of the Chicago Transit Authority and was City College’s interim president.
Larry Pappas
Larry Pappas' Forte Construction is a high-quality contractor for installing elevators that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The company has completed more than 80 elevators for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Amtrak, with another 59 expected to be completed by 2026. Last year, Pappas celebrated the grand opening of a new 30,000-square-foot corporate headquarters in Islandia on Long Island. Pappas also established a $100,000 scholarship fund for Cooper Union undergraduates studying engineering and construction.
Anil Parikh
Anil Parikh assumed a new role this year driving strategic growth and overseeing key transportation areas in the New York area at AECOM, where he has worked since 2017. The transit executive previously oversaw the development of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Second Avenue subway extension, completing a plan that had stalled in 1975, as well as the 63rd Street connection.
Steven Plate
For nearly 50 years, Steven Plate has been a pillar upholding the region’s most transformative infrastructure megaprojects. Plate joined the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1976 helped manage the completion of its JFK and Newark AirTrain systems and the World Trade Center site’s redevelopment. He’s currently overseeing the $10 billion overhaul of the Port Authority Bus Terminal, whose first construction contract was approved last year, as well as the PATH extension to Newark Liberty International Airport and the Bayonne Bridge Navigational Clearance Project.
Thomas Prendergast
Thomas Prendergast couldn’t resist coming back for one last infrastructure job. In January, the Gateway Development Commission appointed the former Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief as its new CEO with a mandate to complete the $16 billion Gateway Program’s Hudson River tunnels that are the nation’s largest infrastructure project. Thanks to Prendergast, five of the 10 tunnel projects are on schedule and on budget, with two more in procurement. The Gateway Program is currently supporting more than 20,000 jobs and is expected to be completed by 2038.
Azikiwe Rich
Azikiwe Rich is a data whiz that the New York City Department of Transportation is fortunate to have on hand. Before he was appointed assistant commissioner in December, Rich helped modernize the department’s performance dashboards, geospatial tools and apps to improve operational transparency and the department’s emergency responses. He is currently leading the agency’s performance analytics, spatial geographic information systems and public data systems. He is also helping implement a shared framework for using data ethically and effectively. Rich was appointed to the U.S. Transportation Department’s Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity during the Biden administration.
Dan Rodriguez
Dan Rodriguez came aboard Coach USA during a period of upheaval for the intercity bus industry. The former media executive and political campaign manager helped steer the Paramus-based bus company through its bankruptcy filing a year ago after struggling to retain ridership since the COVID-19 pandemic. Coach’s sale to the Renco Group in November occurred without changes to New Jersey’s existing commuter service. Rodriguez was also able to help convince New York City’s Traffic Mobility Review Board to give congestion pricing exemptions to private bus operators.
Mark Rynning
Mark Rynning joined Hill International last year after more than 30 years at Tetra Tech, where he led its Resilient, Sustainable Infrastructure Division. Rynning has helped governments solve their wastewater, transportation and building challenges. Hill International has helped build 22 food and beverage concessions and 10 workstations throughout JFK Airport’s Terminal 5, provided integrity monitoring for the construction of LaGuardia Airport’s new terminal building as needed and delivered technical support for the restoration of PATH service at the World Trade Center’s Oculus.
Mark Schienberg
Mark Schienberg isn’t just the brains behind the nation’s oldest auto show, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in April at the Javits Center. Earlier this year, the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association leader lamented the possibility of 25% tariffs on imported vehicles. Schienberg has also been working on ensuring that legacy automakers aren’t able to bypass dealerships to sell their vehicles directly to consumers. He also played a role in the coalition that delayed the state’s electric vehicle mandates in an effort to allow charging infrastructure to catch up to use.
Brian Simon
Brian Simon founded Hollis Public Affairs in 2021 after stints with Rep. Greg Meeks, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Davidoff Hutcher & Citron. Simon’s firm advises a mix of startups, nonprofits and companies, including transportation players like JetBlue Airways as well as the YWCA of Brooklyn, Jamestown LP and T-Mobile. Simon has also lobbied New York City Council members in support of Mets owner Steve Cohen’s casino plan and served as a fundraising bundler for Andrew Cuomo’s 2025 New York City mayoral campaign.
Lydon Sleeper-O’Connell
New York’s air taxi market is about to become very crowded, but Lydon Sleeper-O’Connell is helping Joby Aviation navigate city bureaucracy and soar above their competitors. He joined the electric aviation startup in 2022 after leading former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs for two years. Last year, Joby unveiled a prototype of its electric air taxi while Sleeper-O’Connell worked to secure approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate the air taxi service in New York with trips to Kennedy Airport by 2026.
Ken Stewart
Ken Stewart believes the future of aviation lies in expanding commercialized drones and supporting companies manufacturing uncrewed devices. He came to NUAIR in 2020, after stints at General Electric Aviation and Federated Wireless. At NUAIR, Stewart helped create the first international corridor for electric advanced air mobility between Quebec and Syracuse and worked with state officials to improve bridge inspections with drones. Last fall, he celebrated NUAIR’s new headquarters at Syracuse Hancock International Airport. He serves as board president of the Commercial Drone Alliance.
Tiffany-Ann Taylor
Tiffany-Ann Taylor recently helped work to convince policymakers and the public that congestion pricing’s benefits to New Yorkers outweighed the cost of the toll to drivers. The urban planner joined the Regional Plan Association in 2021 after stints with the New York City Department of Transportation and the New York City Economic Development Corp. She previously led the Congestion Pricing Now Coalition’s efforts to keep the tolling program on track despite resistance. She is currently helping the city develop a plan to revitalize the Brooklyn Marine Terminal as chair of the project’s transportation advisory group.
Samuel Turvey
Samuel Turvey wants to bring New York’s transit and infrastructure into the 21st century. Since 2017, the ReThinkNYC chair has promoted an alternative plan to redevelop Penn Station that would run trains through New Jersey to Long Island without demolishing the surrounding neighborhood. Turvey has coordinated the efforts of the Penn Community Defense Fund and was also instrumental in supporting former New York City subway chief Andy Byford’s return to New York City to steer the station’s overhaul. Even as an elementary school student on Staten Island in the 1960s, he rallied in opposition to Robert Moses’ proposed expressways to replace the island’s greenbelt.
Miguel Velázquez
Miguel Velázquez’s efforts to make it easier to navigate Rochester without a car has boosted Monroe County’s appeal as a place to live, work and raise a family. After becoming CEO of the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority in 2023, Velázquez launched a program for eligible residents to use their EBT cards for their fares, added 15-minute service on routes and expanded bus service to medical centers. This year, he called on Albany to approve a 15% increase in the agency’s operating funds and $1 billion in capital funding to avoid a budget shortfall and maintain service.
Justin R. Vonashek
At the end of March, when Catherine Rinaldi retired from Metro-North Railroad after seven years at the helm, the railroad didn’t need to look far for her replacement. Justin Vonashek, who had run Metro-North’s operations since 2016, officially assumed the role in April with a mission to maintain the railroad’s stellar on-time performance record, boost service west of the Hudson River and improve its safety culture by listening to his workforce. A key priority for him is ensuring four new Bronx train stations stay on track to open by 2027.
Kristen Walsh
Kristen Walsh has helped Tonio Burgos & Associates become one of the most respected government affairs firms in New York. She joined the lobbying office in 2014 as a vice president after stints as a top staffer for U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and former U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. She was promoted to president in 2022. The firm has lobbied on behalf of New York Waterway, Greater New York Hospital Association, RXR Realty and for full funding of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority capital plan.
David Weiss
David Weiss knows the importance of the nuts and bolts of infrastructure having started his career as an engineering intern and taken on early roles inspecting bridge conditions. Now he is a key executive with WSP’s Transportation and Infrastructure National Business Line, where he oversees major highway, tunneling, transit and rail projects. Weiss’ firm designed the extension of the No. 7 train line from Times Square to Hudson Yards, which was completed in 2015, and is currently leading the environmental review and preliminary engineering for the new Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan.
Ryan White
Ryan White started thinking about the future of freight before it was cool. Before joining Jacobs in 2023, the urban planner led FreightNYC, New York City’s multimodal freight transportation plan while serving as New York City Economic Development Corp.’s freight initiatives director. He has worked with industry groups that brought together government and industry on sustainable transportation solutions. White has since promoted a marine highway system on the East Coast and partnered with the New Jersey Department of Transportation to study its benefits.
Tom Wiser
Tom Wiser is no stranger to the construction industry. Before joining the Associated General Contractors of New York State as a vice president last year, Wiser led the state Department of Transportation’s Region 9 office in Binghamton and managed several construction projects. At AGC, Wiser has advocated against the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs, signed on to a Business Council of New York State lawsuit against the state’s new freshwater wetlands regulations and supported reforms to the Scaffold Law that would cut construction costs.
Michael Woloz
Michael Woloz has had an indelible effect on the direction of New York City’s transportation policies for a quarter century. The CMW Strategies leader has mounted campaigns to protect taxicab medallion owners from unfair working conditions and pushed for the expansion of speed camera installation across the city. This year, Woloz lobbied for Waymo on autonomous vehicle issues, handled e-scooter matters for Bird, advised Verra Mobility on speed cameras and repped the Trucking Association of New York on multiple issues.
Catherine Wynkoop
Catherine Wynkoop has ensured senior suburbanites can access safe transportation options to help them access health care, food, and other necessities. She co-founded TRA in 2011 and has since provided 30,000 medical appointment rides to seniors and individuals with disabilities across Westchester and Putnam counties, as well as in parts of Connecticut. She has also added to the organization’s vehicle fleet and launched a new fundraising campaign. Wynkoop is planning to expand into Rockland County and is hiring more drivers.
Candice Xie
As one of the few women leaders in the micromobility industry, Candice Xie developed a different mindset than her male Silicon Valley counterparts. She co-founded Veo in 2017 and has developed it into a successful business. Last year, she led the company to become the first North American shared micromobility company to achieve unadjusted EBIT profitability. Xie has expanded the markets Veo operates in and the vehicle lineup for the company. This spring, Veo debuted the first dockless cargo e-bike in North America.
Nicole Yearwood
New York may be a Citi Bike town, but Nicole Yearwood has helped bring more micromobility options to residents in transit deserts. Yearwood joined Lime in 2022 after it introduced dockless e-bikes in Rockaways and Staten Island and was selected to join an e-scooter pilot in the East Bronx. The pilot was deemed a success and the city expanded e-scooters to Southeast Queens, where Yearwood led community outreach efforts, formed relationships with key stakeholders and established partnerships.
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