Trailblazers
The 2026 Trailblazers in Transportation
Influential leaders keeping New York on the move
City & State presents the 2026 Trailblazers in Transportation. SSSA; Matthew W. Daus; Brian Jones
In New York, there are more ways to get around than ever before. New York City leaders are once again looking to the waterways both for shipping and transit. Micromobility companies are expanding their e-scooter and e-bike offerings. And tech companies are testing self-driving vehicles on the busy streets of New York City. Of course, that’s in addition to the many transportation modes already in place, from cars and trucks to subways, commuter trains and airplanes.
City & State’s 2026 Trailblazers in Transportation features a group of innovative leaders, builders and thinkers in the multifaceted sector. This year’s list includes some new faces, like Shaun Abreu, the new chair of the New York City Council Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, New York City Deputy Mayor for Operations Julia Kerson and Frank Annicaro, the new CEO of the Capital District Transportation Authority. It also puts a spotlight on the latest exploits of some well-established players in the space, including government appointees, industry executives, transit advocates, labor leaders, environmentalists and others paving the way for better transportation networks all across New York.
Shaun Abreu
New York City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu is not only new to his leadership role, he is also the recently appointed chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Abreu has laid out a transportation vision that views city streets as “places where people live their lives,” and plans to implement that vision to keep people moving effectively. He is not a fan of residential parking permits and does not support criminal summonses for people on e-bikes. He has also pledged to push city transportation officials to prioritize the NYC Streets Plan, a five-year transportation master plan.
Mayra Aldás-Deckert
A former undocumented immigrant from Ecuador, Mayra Aldás-Deckert is now advocating for transit policy changes that benefit immigrants and working-class New Yorkers. At Riders Alliance, she has led a strategic campaign in Flatbush, Brooklyn, to improve bus service by mobilizing riders along the route and putting community-driven pressure on leaders, resulting in a center-running bus lane as part of the first phase of the Flatbush Avenue bus priority project. She also serves on the board of Mixteca, an organization supporting Mexican and Latin American immigrant communities in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
Frank Annicaro
Last year, Frank Annicaro took the helm of the Capital District Transportation Authority, the transportation system serving six counties in the Albany area. Annicaro previously served as senior vice president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s New York City Transit Department of Buses and was the MTA’s acting vice president and chief maintenance officer before that. In March, Annicaro touted efforts to improve the customer experience, including a fare compliance campaign and tackling bus shelter cleanliness. CDTA operates local, express, commuter and bus rapid transit services, short-term bicycle and car rentals, and two train stations.
Carlos Bannister
Carlos Bannister has been on staff at the New York City Department of Transportation for nearly two decades, spending most of his tenure working with vendors and contractors that keep the sprawling transportation system in good shape. Last year, Bannister was featured in Governing magazine for his successful efforts to increase the share of contracts that the Department of Transportation awards to firms owned by women or minorities in recent years. He has also spearheaded initiatives to improve efficiency and cut costs.
Virginia Borkoski
Virginia Borkoski has helped to transform mass transit in lower Manhattan. During her 27-year tenure at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, she focused on megaprojects including the Fulton Center and the Cortlandt Street subway stop that was rebuilt after the 9/11 attacks. Now, as managing director for global transit at the professional services firm Hatch, Borkoski continues to focus on delivering transformational projects. Over the past two years, she has doubled Hatch’s transit work in New York, with $500 million in new business. She’s also a regular public speaker on transit and transportation infrastructure issues.
Jeffery Brault
Jeffery Brault wants to get more New Yorkers not only on the waterfront, but on the water. At the maritime and hospitality company Hornblower Group, Brault drives community efforts for NYC Ferry, including hundreds of engagement activities across the five boroughs annually. He promotes affordable ferry transportation for commuters as a waterfront economic engine. NYC Ferry recently surpassed 50 million riders total, and late last year the ferry system completed its first route reconfiguration with the goal of increased efficiency, shorter commute times and more destinations.
Tonio Burgos
Tonio Burgos is a veteran New York leader who worked for Mario Cuomo during his tenure as governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state. In the transportation arena, Burgos served on the board of commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and as a director of the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corp., which oversees the PATH rail system. Filings show his firm represents major transportation and infrastructure clients, including United Airlines, AECOM, Bechtel and the Shipping Association of New York and New Jersey.
Michael Carrube
Michael Carrube is a transportation labor leader both in New York City as president of the Subway-Surface Supervisors Association – the city’s second largest transit union – and nationwide as the president of the National Association of Transportation Supervisors. Carrube was reelected to a third term leading the SSSA in 2024 and vowed to dedicate himself to protecting the health care benefits of his members and retirees. The last contract negotiated by the union allowed for raises and lifetime health care.
Margaret Clark
With Amtrak playing a major role in intercity travel in the densely populated Northeast, Margaret Clark is making sure the national rail system is working with state and local governments across the region. Her work entails building partnerships with all levels of government and stakeholders on such key projects as the Gateway tunnel under the Hudson River and on issues related to the use of Amtrak’s tracks and expanding service. Clark has touted the improved NextGen Acela service between Boston and Washington, D.C., with a top speed of 160 mph.
Jeff Cleland
Syracuse native Jeff Cleland has extensive experience in delivery and supply chain logistics, which he brings to the e-commerce giant Amazon. In February, he took on a new title as principal for infrastructure and regulatory affairs with Prime Air, a drone delivery service, building on his work shaping drone and electric vehicle delivery policy at the national level. Cleland previously coordinated with New York City transportation officials to expand the use of e-bikes to deliver goods and on the design of loading spaces for safe delivery.
Laura Colacurcio
Laura Colacurcio has been a behind-the-scenes player in the high-profile push to add badly needed commuter rail capacity under the Hudson River. She serves on the government and community relations team at the Gateway Development Commission, which is spearheading the once-in-a-generation Hudson rail tunnel. The project is advancing after legal and political wrangling, including threats by the White House to cut funding. Colacurcio joined the Gateway Development Commission last summer after stints at Amtrak, the Association for a Better New York and the Citizens Budget Commission.
Leroy Comrie
State Senate Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee Chair Leroy Comrie keeps a watchful eye on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to ensure their transportation systems serve New York City and the surrounding region effectively and efficiently. Comrie applauded the completion of the $15 million Laurelton Long Island Rail Road station renovation in Queens this year and successfully advocated for increased bus service in the borough. He’s now pushing to expand eligibility for reduced transit fares for low-income riders.
Jeremy Cooney
State Senate Transportation Committee Chair Jeremy Cooney has been charging ahead with an ambitious transportation agenda for the state. Among his recent accomplishments is securing $500,000 for a high-speed rail study, which has been a top priority of his, along with a 4.9% increase in public transit funding and more money for state and local road repairs. Cooney recently introduced a bill that would expand pre-tax benefits for commuters to bicycle rentals, ride-hailing services and bicycle commuting costs. He’s also a leading proponent of autonomous vehicles.
Demetrius Crichlow
Demetrius Crichlow is tasked with keeping the city that never sleeps in perpetual motion. Crichlow, who is approaching 30 years with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was named head of New York City Transit in 2024. Last year, he saw a 7% increase in subway, bus and paratransit trips, record on-time performance and the completion of the Queens bus network redesign. He carried out Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to install platform barriers at 100 subway stations and welcomed new state funding for over 2,000 new subway cars. He has made fare evasion a priority with a modern fare gate pilot program.
Matthew Daus
A leading New York expert on mobility, Matthew Daus visualizes the region’s transportation future for policymakers and average New Yorkers alike. In the run-up to last year’s elections, he released transportation policy reports for voters in the New York City mayoral race and the New Jersey gubernatorial contest. He also issued reports on auto insurance fraud, which is a major focus of Gov. Kathy Hochul this legislative session. An attorney who previously led the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, he is now transportation technology chair at City College’s Transportation Research Center.
Minelly De Coo
Minelly De Coo is an engineer who delivers. She has served as deputy director of infrastructure for Gov. Kathy Hochul and as capital projects director in the New York City Mayor’s Office, and she also helped deliver the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as a special assistant to the president in the Biden administration. Now at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, De Coo is driving the modernization and consolidation of the North Cargo Area at John F. Kennedy International Airport, a critical element of the transformation of the airport.
Bhairavi Desai
New York City’s for-hire drivers know no greater advocate than Bhairavi Desai. The influential leader of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance was on the worker justice transition team of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a longtime ally who joined her on a successful hunger strike for taxi medallion debt relief. More recently, Desai pushed for city legislation to prevent ride-hailing drivers from being deactivated without recourse. The legislation, which was originally vetoed by then-New York City Mayor Eric Adams in his final hours in office, was passed by the City Council in a veto override in January.
Marie Therese Dominguez
Marie Therese Dominguez is leading a number of trailblazing projects as state transportation commissioner. Last year, she cut the ribbon on a new flyover project in the Syracuse suburbs to connect to Interstate 81 north of the state Thruway, an essential part of the removal of the I-81 viaduct through Syracuse. Dominguez is also pioneering a new salt management program to switch from brine salt to liquid salt application in icy weather. The liquid salt is considered better for the environment and water quality.
Ron Epstein
When Ron Epstein joined the top-five Albany lobbying firm Ostroff Associates at the end of last year, he brought more than three decades of experience in transportation and infrastructure policy. The former executive deputy commissioner and chief financial officer with the state Department of Transportation is an expert on project delivery, financing and planning. At the national level, he has chaired committees for the American Public Transportation Association and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and also contributed to Transportation Research Board studies. He now advocates for transit operators and infrastructure developers.
Indhira Figuereo Blaney
Indhira Figuereo Blaney brings a unique background to her work on aviation and airlines: Her father handled operations for airports in the Dominican Republic where she grew up, and she went on to study engineering geology. She’s now a senior executive at WSP USA, the U.S. subsidiary of the international engineering and professional services consulting firm WSP, which has played a critical role in the redevelopment of New York City’s major airports. She joined WSP nearly a decade ago, following a long tenure at AECOM.
Mike Finley
Mike Finley brought an extensive background in telecommunications and business development when he took the top job at Boingo in 2019, and he has made the wireless internet provider a go-to supplier for airports and transportation hubs, as well as hospitals, military bases and stadiums. In New York, Finley’s company has installed cutting-edge networks at John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Grand Central Madison and Long Island Rail Road stops. Last fall, Boingo reached a long-term agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to upgrade cellular and Wi-Fi networks systemwide.
Michael Fleischer
One of the state’s leading transportation lobbyists, Michael Fleischer has been at the forefront of transportation policymaking for decades. At Brown & Weinraub, the state’s top lobbying firm, he is advocating for new official pavement selection guidance that provides longer-lasting improvements while reducing the amount of cement in concrete mixtures, as well as assisting developers in obtaining traffic impact mitigation approval and securing funding for major upgrades to Route 17 in the Hudson Valley. He is a former executive director of the state Thruway Authority and first deputy commissioner of the state Transportation Department.
Jessica Forse
At the civil engineering firm HNTB, Jessica Forse serves as the overall project management executive on the $19 billion redevelopment of John F. Kennedy International Airport. The mammoth project includes the development of new terminals, cargo transit and even the redesigning and streamlining of the airport’s labyrinth of roads. Forse is no stranger to collaborating with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, having worked previously with Jacobs on the redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport. She also led the reopening of streets surrounding the World Trade Center.
Anton Fredriksson
Anton Fredriksson is making waves in his role at the New York City Economic Development Corp. He’s steering the city’s blue highway initiative to shift more freight travel from highways to the waterways, which was first floated in the Bloomberg administration and picked up steam under Eric Adams. In his prior role as the EDC’s aviation director, Fredriksson was involved in a push for quieter helicopters. Prior to joining the EDC, he worked on the New Terminal One project at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Ira Goldstein
Created to be a workers’ compensation fund for for-hire drivers in New York City, The Black Car Fund has established itself as an integral part of the city’s transportation ecosystem, now serving 100,000 independent contractor for-hire drivers. Last year, longtime leader Ira Goldstein pushed successfully for the state Legislature to approve an extension of the nonprofit organization’s authority to provide additional health benefits for drivers. In January, Goldstein announced a new Health Navigation Service benefit, with new benefits coming throughout the first half of the year.
Michael Greco
A collegiate ice hockey player turned legislative and constituent affairs staffer for then-Rep. Brian Higgins, Michael Greco is now a lobbyist with powerhouse firm O’Donnell & Associates. Greco advises clients in transportation and other sectors, including the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority, New Flyer of America and Alstom Transportation. He has experience in local and state campaigns, with a focus on the New York City Council, and now splits his time between his firm’s Albany and Buffalo offices.
Donovan Guin
IBM has established itself as a leader in transportation technology, including toll road operation and collection systems. IBM pioneered automated toll collection on the Pennsylvania Turnpike over 80 years ago and has been at the forefront of congestion pricing in Sweden. Donovan Guin leads the Westchester County-headquartered technology giant’s public transportation work in the United States. His portfolio spans tolling, airports, public transit and work with state transportation and motor vehicle agencies, including cybersecurity work for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Kendra Hems
Kendra Hems is focused on making sure that New York’s supply chain keeps on trucking. Hems is advancing ambitious policy agendas in Albany and New York City, including a push to delay a 2025 deadline for zero-emission trucks to make up a minimum percentage of total sales, arguing that the infrastructure is not in place. Other association priorities include the repeal of the highway use tax, exempting commercial trucks from congestion pricing and addressing the lack of overnight truck parking in New York City.
Marc Herbst
A prominent advocate for Long Island’s highway and infrastructure contractors, Marc Herbst is pushing to improve regional mobility. He wants Long Island to have its own metropolitan planning organization to focus on unique local transportation issues. Last year, he applauded Gov. Kathy Hochul’s inclusion of Oakdale Merge safety upgrades and the Southern State Parkway and Meadowbrook Parkway interchange in the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council’s Transportation Improvement Program. But Herbst was quick to call out state leaders last year when Long Island’s share of transportation funding dropped dramatically.
Rick Horan
Rick Horan is seeking to implement his vision of a rail link to improve transit connectivity in south Queens. As a champion of the QueensLink project, Horan is proposing a subway line connecting the southern part of the borough with Queens Boulevard. The project would utilize an existing rail line and has been awarded a $400,000 federal grant – along with $100,000 in state funds – for a feasibility study. Horan argues that the John F. Kennedy International Airport project and Resorts World’s full casino only increases the need for the proposed line.
Rich Kassel
Rich Kassel has spent decades as a forward-looking policy wonk, focusing on the environment and evolving transportation habits. The father of the Dump Dirty Diesels Campaign in the 1990s, he helped bring about the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s first clean fuel bus project. Kassel is still at it, building a statewide coalition to pass the Clean Fuel Standard, which has regularly passed in the state Senate but has stalled in the Assembly. He has also advocated for preserving the state’s electric school bus program.
Julia Kerson
Before Julia Kerson was chosen as New York City’s deputy mayor for operations at the end of 2025, she was a trusted infrastructure adviser for Gov. Kathy Hochul and a senior adviser to the deputy mayor for operations in the de Blasio administration. In her new role, Kerson oversees a number of infrastructure agencies, including the Transportation and Sanitation departments, along with the city’s emergency management office. On her to-do list are advancing Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s free bus agenda, improving bike infrastructure and addressing the aging triple cantilever portion of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Craig Lader
The 500 square miles that make up Westchester County are filled with a mix of quaint villages, waterfront vistas, urban centers and winding suburban roads. Craig Lader helps ensure people can travel around this bustling county. The county’s transportation planning director since 2023, Lader leads the county in mobility planning, transit coordination and the development and implementation of its long-term transportation strategy. He is focused on expanding the county’s transportation network and sustainable transportation options, along with better connecting Westchester’s vibrant communities with transit options.
Alison Landry
A former chief delivery officer in the New York City Mayor’s Office driving capital process reform, Alison Landry is now vice president and New York City strategy lead for Jacobs. At the business consulting and services firm, Landry is part of the executive team handling preliminary engineering for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Interborough Express project, a planned 14-mile light-rail line between Brooklyn and Queens. The project, a priority for Gov. Kathy Hochul, is in the environmental review and preliminary design phases. Landry is also a former associate commissioner in the city Department of Design and Construction.
Ricky Li
Standing on sweltering subway platforms during summer is a common experience for New Yorkers. Ricky Li, a professional engineer, may have a solution to that. The MTA Construction & Development climate expert has studied how to remove heat from subway stations by diverting it deeper underground or even to heat buildings. The technology that Li and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority hope to employ could lower temperatures to a more temperate 82 to 85 degrees. Li previously worked at the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services and the city Department of Parks and Recreation.
Anthony Mann
A privately owned electrical contractor for over a century, E-J Electric Installation Co. has deep roots in New York City. Anthony Mann, the company’s CEO, is a third-generation leader focusing on continuing to power New York’s transportation system. Among the more recent projects that Mann led the company in delivering are the Long Island Rail Road East Side Access, Moynihan Train Hall, the East River Tunnel Rehabilitation Project, the extension of the No. 7 train line, the 96th Street station on the Second Avenue subway and the John F. Kennedy International Airport New Terminal One microgrid.
Patrick McAffrey
Patrick McAffrey brings his passion for intelligent urbanism to his architecture work at Dattner Architects. The women-owned firm has worked on major projects, designing the Hudson Yards subway station and the New York City Department of Sanitation’s salt shed on Spring Street. McAffrey is part of a design-build team improving access at five subway stations as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s station accessibility initiative. He also serves as a project director for station architectural design on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Newark AirTrain, which includes adding four new stations.
Kate McBride
Kate McBride founded Transportation Safety Planning and Solutions Group in 2018 with a focus on assisting New York school districts in complying with state reporting requirements for school buses. She has developed a system to assist school districts and private bus companies complete all reporting requirements, ensuring all regulations are fulfilled with the goal of improving safety of New York’s students. She’s also an executive at McBride Consulting & Business Development Group, serving as chief administrative officer and transportation consultant.
Josh Meltzer
Josh Meltzer is working hard to keep New Yorkers on the go – specifically on electric scooters through the micromobility company Lime. Last year, Lime was showing growth in Queens and the Bronx, posting some of its best monthly numbers in New York City. This came months after city officials expanded shared micromobility into Queens, with plans to eventually operate in all five boroughs, where riders have already completed over 2 million trips. Meltzer is a board member of the North American Bikeshare and Scootershare Association.
Richard Ocken
Richard Ocken was appointed president of Iovino Enterprises last fall, bringing a wealth of public works construction experience to the parent organization of several New York City construction companies. He oversaw the recent completion of three Metropolitan Transportation Authority design-build projects, including a railcar testing facility. He also led a successful $721 million bid for the Gold Star Memorial Bridge rehabilitation project in Connecticut, the first Iovino project outside the New York City area. He previously led MLJ Contracting, an Iovino company, and was a New York City Department of Design and Construction deputy commissioner.
Larry Pappas
Since he co-founded Forte Construction Corp. in 2010, Larry Pappas has been at the forefront of efforts to modernize New York City’s subway system and increase accessibility. His company, which builds complex transportation and accessibility infrastructure for clients like Amtrak and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has installed or is contracted to install over 150 new MTA elevators by the end of 2026, which aligns with Pappas’ focus on accessibility in the transit system and ensuring compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. A civil engineering graduate of The Cooper Union, Pappas established a scholarship fund at the school for aspiring engineers.
John Samuelsen
Reelected last year to another four-year term helming the 160,000-member Transport Workers Union, John Samuelsen is fighting hard for the unionized workers he represents. He has stated that the growing union would remain neutral in the New York governor’s race, citing his opposition to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s veto of a bill last year that would’ve required two-person subway train staffing. He was also a vocal foe of former New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ push to ban horse carriages in Central Park. The Brooklyn native is now leading his powerful union in opposing the offshoring of U.S. passenger aircraft maintenance.
Kovid Saxena
There aren’t many infrastructure projects in the New York City metropolitan area that Kovid Saxena hasn’t touched. A vice president in the Mobility Global Business Area at the global professional services company Arcadis, Saxena is consulting on the second phase of the Second Avenue subway and the Gateway rail tunnel project under the Hudson River. Saxena has also consulted on citywide curbside electric vehicle charging, fixing the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway triple cantilever, raising the Bayonne Bridge and on Atlantic Avenue safety improvements in Brooklyn.
Mark Schienberg
Mark Schienberg is a champion of New York’s automobile dealers. At the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, Schienberg represents some 400 franchised dealers supporting over 68,800 jobs in a multibillion-dollar industry. He has helped to advance various legislative measures, including a law requiring manufacturers to compensate dealers for the actual time it takes to perform warranty and recall repairs in addition to other protections for franchise dealers. He also presided over the 125th annual New York International Auto Show, the trade association’s flagship event in Manhattan.
Dani Simons
The global rail company Alstom has made New York a hub for train construction, thanks to its recently upgraded manufacturing plant in the Southern Tier. Dani Simons shares Alstom’s story of transforming rail travel and bolstering New York’s economy – and she also oversees the company’s communications and public affairs work across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Simons previously handled public affairs for the U.S. Department of Transportation and was on the New York City Department of Transportation team that launched Citi Bike. She has also worked at Motivate, Waze and the Regional Plan Association.
Ken Stewart
Ken Stewart is demonstrating that drones are a critical part of New York’s economy. The leader of NUAIR in Central New York has led his organization in delivering a $103 million economic impact from $21.8 million in public investment. Last year, NUAIR received the nation’s first letter of acceptance from the Federal Aviation Administration for surveillance as a service, which allows for commercial scale beyond visual line of sight operations across 1,900 square miles of the state’s airspace, up from the previous 50 miles. NUAIR will be providing counter-drone operations at the FIFA World Cup this year.
Marlon Taylor
Marlon Taylor has been working on the railroad for his entire career. He now runs the New York & Atlantic Railway, a private rail service that operates freight trains on tracks owned by the Long Island Rail Road. He has tackled environmental and infrastructure issues for the freight line, upgrading rail yard facilities and adopting green locomotive technology that resulted in taking 120,000 trucks off of Long Island roads annually and reducing traffic on clogged roadways. He serves on the boards of Vision Long Island and United Veterans Beacon House.
Matt Walsh
A government relations veteran with a strong transportation background, Matt Walsh leads Waymo’s state and local government relations in New York. Walsh helped secure New York City’s first autonomous vehicle test permit last year as well as permission for testing at Newark Liberty International Airport. He now needs to put his skills to use as Gov. Kathy Hochul has pumped the brakes on expanding Waymo statewide. In New Jersey, Walsh joined the Delaware and Raritan Canal Commission and served on a transition task force for new Gov. Mikie Sherrill. Walsh was previously at CMW Strategies.
Tom Wiser
A seasoned transportation professional and engineer, Tom Wiser leads transportation services for the Associated General Contractors of New York State. Wiser, former Region 9 director for the state Department of Transportation, recently formed the Work Zone Safety Partnership Committee, which united AGC and several other transportation organizations with the state Transportation Department to improve work zone safety. The AGC is pushing federal legislation that could be folded into the surface transportation reauthorization bill to exempt federally funded projects, including transportation projects, from New York’s Scaffold Law.
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