In this special collaboration,  I had the great pleasure of guest hosting on the Commuter Rail Coalition's Commuter Rail Conversations for an interview with Sam Sargent, Caltrain’s Director of Strategy and Policy. We had an awesome conversation about taking leaps. First, Sam's big leap from Austin Texas to California’s Bay area and then Caltrain's leap into electrification of its commuter rail service. Sam brings Caltrain a fresh perspective from his many years working with the greater Austin community as CapMetro’s Director of Government Affairs. He recently joined Caltrain, just five months ago, and has hit the ground running!

In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Founding Partner of Policy AZ John MacDonald. John has been part of the fabric of our industry for decades, working behind the scenes with stakeholders as they navigate Arizona’s political landscape. That has never more true than it is today as he and his partner Dana Pashcke assist organizations like MAG and AzTA as they attempt to advance transportation policy and funding. 

John and Dana have been front and center during this past legislative cycle which ended shockingly in a veto from Governor Ducey on enabling legislation to take Proposition 400E to Maricopa County voters. In this interview, John shares not only his background but also the history behind why we need enabling legislation to begin with, what transpired this legislative session, and what we can do now.

In this episode, I had the pleasure of finally connecting with Tracy McMillan for our interview. Tracy is an Associate Principal at Nelson Nygaard which is a transportation planning and policy development firm. She returned to the Valley in 2020 as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic. Over the past two years Tracy has stayed involved with national, regional, and local projects as well as engaged the Arizona transportation industry. Tracy shares perspective on active transportation, safety, and we discuss the then recent veto by Governor Ducey and potential impacts that decision may cause. 

In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kevin Robinson. Kevin is running for Phoenix City Council to represent District 6 which encompasses my home area, Awhatukee, but also the Biltmore and Arcadia communities.  His background includes serving as a City of Phoenix police officer for over thirty-six years. After retiring, Kevin has taught full time for the past five years and is now looking to expand his public service to the Phoenix City Council. He knows our communities, understands the challenges we face as such a rapidly growing metropolitan area, and he’s a consensus-builder. In other words, he can help us get things done. I hope you enjoy learning about his background and what makes him our best candidate for Phoenix City Council District 6. 

In this episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing April Trevett, Capital Programs Business Manager for Valley Metro. April has been with Valley Metro for over twenty years and has seen a lot of changes, including the installation of the agency's first female CEO. That is particularly impactful to April as one of our local advocates for women in transportation and the President of the Metro Phoenix Chapter of WTS. We hear from April about balancing work, home, school, and leading a dynamic association chapter as well as her goals for both her career and her WTS Presidency.

Suzanne Lansford has had a fascinating professional journey. She started her career in Arizona, traveled the country working on nuclear facilities and somehow became an expert on the impacts of lighting on sea turtles. Along that journey she made her way back to Arizona, is now the First Vice President of the Sonoran Section of the American Society of Highway Engineers, and is serving as the Chair of the upcoming ASHE Southwest Summit. Suzanne makes a career in engineering sound like an adventure!

In this episode I welcome back AZTA President Chris Bridges to discuss our once in a lifetime opportunity to leverage the new infrastructure bill to advance intercity rail between Tucson and Phoenix. We hope to the end the AZTA Rail Conference with the beginnings of a coalition that can bring this opportunity to life. I hope you’ll join us next week in Tucson not only for this critical intercity rail conversation but to also learn about the vision of rail from our Mayoral panel including Phoenix, Tucson, Tempe, and Gilbert; rail policy considerations from City of Phoenix LRT Administrator Markus Coleman; and leveraging transit investment to build ridership for potential future rail corridors from BRT subject matter expert Mike James. Register today and let’s get movin’ to the beautiful southern part of our state to share in creating the vision of rail for Arizona!

Have you ever wondered what the heck is happening on the Broadway Curve?  Well, me too. So in this episode I spoke with MOT subject matter expert, Mike Washkowiak. Mike is an Associate Vice President for Iteris and professional engineer. He shares information about building a practice in Arizona for his company, the incredible work they're doing across the country, how his career started right here in Arizona, and the role he’s playing on this major reconstruction project. Mike explains the Broadway Curve team’s plan for completing this project. They'll be adding capacity while never reducing lanes and to help make that a possibility, Iteris has deployed its leading edge ClearGuide software for traffic management. 

In this episode Kammy Horne, Senior Vice President for Via Metropolitan Transit in San Antonio Texas, talks about the intersection between reputation and brand. Kammy spent a critical chapter of her life and career right here in Arizona, and she shares her perspective on why it’s so important to be intentional about authenticity and ensuring that what you’re presenting to the world, professionally and personally, reflects who you really are. Kammy gets real about her career, decisions she made regarding work life balance and being home with her children, and how she handled some challenging feedback she received as a result of participating in the Eno Foundation Executive Leadership Program. 

In this episode Sabrina Drago, Executive Director of the Sacramento Regional Transportation Authority shares her experience in shifting from private to public sector and how following her personal priorities has shaped her career, which started in Arizona, and taken her to where she is today. 

We talk about evolving transportation policy, the challenges associated with gas tax dependency, social equity in infrastructure investment, and balancing work and home through COVID19. Sabrina's 90-degree turns professionally have resulted in an unanticipated career path which, while challenging, has resulted in a unique perspective from working for a small disadvantaged business, large AECs, and the public sector.