Who We Are

Tom joined CS in 1987 and has developed and applied travel demand models in over 60 locations. He has been an expert adviser to federal, state, and metropolitan planning agencies on model development and validation. He is a past chairman of the Transportation Research Board’s Transportation Demand Forecasting Committee.

Interests & Hobbies

Tom loves spending time with his wife and family, and sometimes they like spending time with him, too. He enjoys watching baseball even though he was never any good at playing it. He likes playing classic rock music at his desk, which he is sure his colleagues love. He enjoys doing transportation related things even when he isn't working. He has many more interests too numerous to list here, which is why he never sleeps.

Dr. McKenzie is an experienced project manager, working with state and local clients across the nation on transportation plans, policy, programs, and implementation. Her work focuses on the intersection of goods movement, people, and communities. She has contributed to the national research on transportation planning, including the 2020 National Freight Strategic Plan, commercial vehicle (truck and bus) safety research, and freight and equity research. Dr. McKenzie has broad experience building coalitions of stakeholders to support both plan development and implementation of transportation projects, including the Chicago Regional Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program, a $4.5 billion multi-jurisdictional public-private investment program in the Chicago region.

Interests & Hobbies

A native of Illinois, Elaine has lived in various rural, urban, and suburban areas of the state. Her hobbies include aviation and sailing. On quiet days, she likes gardening and puzzles at home. 

Joey brings over 23 years of experience working in the IT space, managing all aspects of IT strategy for various high-growth, multi-location on-prem and fully-remote companies. He takes a human/user-centric approach to IT, evaluating the benefits of technology to corporate goals, but also focusing on how the user experience can be improved, improving productivity as well as comfort for those interacting with technology.

Interests & Hobbies

In his free time, Joey is a songwriter and pianist. He is also an avid bowler, and is one strike away from a perfect 300.

Claudette is a Senior Project Manager that specializes in transit operations, regulatory compliance, program planning and grant administration.

27 years of experience in transportation planning, traffic engineering, and travel demand modeling. I currently work onsite at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, where I provide a wide range of support and assistance to the technical group as well as to the planning, application and survey units.

Interests & Hobbies

Listen to fusion music and read books! 

Michael has fundamentally transformed CS’ business processes to inform our forward-looking strategy. His analyses have allowed CS to critically assess our business structures and systems, so our staff can focus on producing great work for our clients. Michael pushes CS to be our best through his willingness to be inquisitive and challenge the status quo. He leads us to new ways of thinking about our business by analyzing problems from unique perspectives. He brings a strong commitment to our growth and success, demonstrated through his contributions and his efforts to support and elevate the work of his colleagues.

Katie has over 10 years of experience in planning, research, and outreach focused on Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO), Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAV), and emerging technologies. She has worked with states across the country, as well as Federal agencies, to advance plans and programs that leverage new technologies to achieve agency goals. She is passionate about helping clients communicate complex issues in easy-to-understand ways, and she brings a strong background in project management, outreach, industry research, and technical writing to her work.

Interests & Hobbies

Katie enjoys drawing, painting, and taking hikes with her family. As a mom to two little boys, her time outside of work is often focused on transportation as well. She spends her weekends observing big trucks around town, lining up toy cars and trains, and watching any and all kid TV programming related to vehicles.

Matt Miller works in the transportation planning and policy arena with a focus on transportation systems, management, and operations (TSM&O), resilience, knowledge management/strategic planning, and emerging technologies. He applies 16 years of experience in research, program management, project management, and stakeholder engagement in support of these transportation policy and planning arenas and associated focus areas. Matt conducts multimodal research at the national level with the NCHRP, ACRP, and TCRP programs, and follows a career path that tracks across research and planning programs at Cambridge Systematics, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, and within the TRB SHRP 2 program.

Interests & Hobbies

In his free time (when he has it!), Matt has a growing portfolio of over 600 songs, recordings, and participates in live music events through multiple "band/projects". He also volunteers with the Austin Chapter of the Project Management Institute.

Mr. Beagan is a Principal of Cambridge Systematics (CS) with more than 21 years of experience in transportation, traffic analysis, and planning in the public and private sectors, and is a recognized expert on freight forecasting.

Interests & Hobbies

Mr. Beagan enjoys all forms of Pop Culture, especially animation and old movies and TV. Mr. Beagan is an avid sports fan, particularly of baseball and has visited almost all of the major league baseball parks, and and most of the minor league parks in the East Coast States. Mr. Beagan is a Disney expert and has been to the Disney theme parks in Florida and California many times.

Dan is a senior freight project manager with 20 years of experience in transportation planning and 18 years in public relations, outreach, and marketing. In addition to managing regional and state freight plans, recently he has led numerous truck parking studies. Dan has also served as PM or planning lead for long-range planning studies; multi-state corridor studies and coalitions; bicycle and pedestrian master plans; and other transportation planning projects. He has a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Brigham Young University, and master’s degree in Environmental Management and Policy from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Dan is assigned to our Los Angeles office but works from his home in Henderson, NV.

Interests & Hobbies

Dan's loves playing with his grandkids, canyoneering, and researching his family's history. Don't ask him about any of these unless you have time to spare.

David focuses on transportation funding & finance and transit planning. Other areas include transportation economics, tolling/pricing studies, intercity rail, asset management, and freight. He is a staff manager for the Planning & Policy group in New England.

Interests & Hobbies

David has two young kids, enjoys camping, and is an award-winning home brewer. He is primarily a bike commuter and lives in Medford, MA.

Crystal brings 20 years of experience in transportation planning, traffic operations, and safety, which includes many years in the public sector. She has managed numerous traffic operations, traffic safety, and connected and autonomous vehicle readiness studies. She has also prepared highway safety studies to meet NHTSA requirements and contributes to Vision Zero Action Plans for multiple states.

Interests & Hobbies

In her free time, Crystal enjoys travelling and being involved in her kid's extracurricular activities

Linnea holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the University of Minnesota Humphrey School. She has expertise in environmental and sustainability planning, land use, and transit-oriented development. She came to the professional planning world via land use reform advocacy in Minneapolis, where she currently lives.

Leah Mooney is a Senior Project Manager (Sr. Associate) with close to 20 years public sector experience and over 15 years in strategic transportation and transit planning and project financing. With a background in infrastructure and operations, she has supported large scale planning efforts, including oversight of preliminary engineering, NEPA and FTA approvals. Leah has overseen significant visionary projects, including the CTA’s path to ADA accessibility: the All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP) and the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD) plans. She also provides tactical, hands-on support for securing grants and funding, with successful submissions for Capital Investment Grants, including Full-Funding Grant Agreements (FFGA), Federal, state, and local competitive grants, as well as value capture funding, such as Chicago’s Tax-Increment Financing program (TIF).

Interests & Hobbies

Leah is a gardener, a hiker, a biker, a baker, a reader of mysteries, and (together with her better half) is the parent of two children and two dogs.

Kirk T. Steudle is an independent senior executive advisor and President of the Steudle Executive Group, LLC focused on advancing national transportation policy, executive coaching, and integrating technology into transportation.  His current clients include public agencies, private businesses, and academic institutions.  He is a noted expert in surface transportation and a nationally recognized leader in the integration of technology into transportation and the development of connected vehicle technology.

During his 32-year public employee career, he served as Director of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) from 2006-2018 directly serving both Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm and Republican Governor Rick Snyder. Aside from his political, executive and management experience, he is a registered engineer in Michigan and had extensive experience in construction project management with his Civil Engineering degree focused on Construction Engineering. Kirk worked in every aspect of the DOT from Design and Maintenance to Permitting and Operations. He was instrumental in the significant development of the CAV ecosystem in Michigan.

Kirk, recently retired as Sr Vice President from Econolite Systems, an international traffic management and software company headquartered in California, where he ran the software, ITS integration, and field services businesses as well as the consulting services business.

He has led and contributed to significant research work with NCHRP, many with Cambridge Systematics, most recently completing Phase 1 of the National Vision for Transportation and currently starting Phase 2.  Previously he was the Principal Investigator for the development of the AASHTO Strategic plan and numerous asset management and ITS projects.

Mr. Steudle has extensive industry and business contacts developed over his 4-decade career. He served as president to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, AASHTO, chaired the Transportation Research Board, TRB, executive committee and chaired for the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, ITSA, Board of Directors. He is the current President of the Engineering Society of Detroit, a Board Trustee of Lawrence Technological University, serves on the Texas Technology Task Force and previously was a Board member of the Center for Automotive Research and an elected City Council member for the City of Essexville, Michigan.

Latasha has 20+ years of marketing experience, serving in various roles such as customer loyalty marketing manager, marketing coordinator, and bid analyst. In these roles, Latasha led or co-led conference and event planning; participated in tradeshows around the country; crafted marketing communication, including company newsletters, mailers, brochures, and website content; and partnered with numerous sales teams in the coordination and development of proposals. At CS, Latasha leverages her extensive proposal experience as Marketing Manager, leading a team of high-performing proposal specialists who partner with consultant teams for the pursuit of new business.

Interests & Hobbies

Latasha lives in metropolitan Atlanta with her husband and son, and enjoys reading, theater, the arts, and attending outdoor events. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Florida State University and is a member of APMP, the Association for Proposal Management Professionals.

Rachel Vierstra holds Master's degrees in Urban Planning and Design and Public Health from the University of Washington. Her transportation planning interests lie in transit and shared mobility, safety, and accessibility and their intersections with public health. She has worked on projects all over the country including successful grant applications in California, state Freight and Rail plans, fare policy analyses, transit agency customer satisfaction surveys, Vision Zero Action Plans, and more! Before beginning her career in transportation planning, Rachel helped manage farmer's markets in Seattle and worked on food access advocacy.

Interests & Hobbies

Outside of work you can find Rachel baking up a storm, biking around the Boston region (her preferred mode of transportation), reading, and picking up new hobbies. She also volunteers regularly at her local farmer's market - you can always ask her what's in season!

Michael has over 30 years of experience in freight and intermodal planning, seaport planning, commercial vehicle operations, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), freight technology applications, and transportation planning. He has helped clients develop and implement freight programs, and has led national research designed to document best practices and provide guidelines for establishing successful freight programs. His work has included regional and state freight plans, truck parking studies, economic impacts of freight, seaport access and seaport planning, preparation of discretionary grant applications, freight technology testing and evaluation, commodity flow analysis, public and private section stakeholder engagement strategies and more. Throughout his career he has helped his clients tackle an every changing and evolving set of freight transportation challenges.

Transportation Engineer with experience in Transportation Asset Management, Economics, and Planning.

Roan Bennett, a Vice President of Cambridge Systematics, has over 20 years of experience leading public-sector transportation agencies and providing value-added consulting services to clients. Roan has designed, implemented, and/or executed statewide and agency-level performance-based planning programs to ensure that customers are receiving the services that they need, agency priorities are being met and aligned with state-wide and federal goals, objectives and priorities, and public funds are being maximized. Roan also has been personally engaged in outreach and engagement activities to ensure that his agencies fully appreciate the needs of its customers. An experienced consultant, Roan’s areas of expertise includes: capital program management for large state agencies; performance measures and management; outreach and engagement; capital planning; strategic planning, multimodal transportation planning; operations management analysis; and standards oversight.

Interests & Hobbies

In my free time I love to travel with my family, attending all my kids extra curricular activities, playing golf and rooting for all my favorite New England sports teams.

Jyoti works as a Transportation Analyst Jr I and supports Florida DOT District 4 contracts held by CS, including Level of Service reporting for the Planning office and transit corridor analysis for the Modal Development office as well as resilience projects across Florida.

Interests & Hobbies

In his spare time, Jyoti likes to play soccer, and tennis. Jyoti also enjoys hiking, watching movies, and trying different cuisines.

Zeina is a Senior Associate of CS with more than ten years of experience developing and applying travel demand models. Some of her clients include the Alamo Area and El Paso MPOs in Texas, the San Bernardino County and Orange County Transportation Authorities, and the Colorado Department of Transportation. Her model application work includes metropolitan transportation plans, corridor studies, and freight plans. She is also a team lead, investing in the professional development of eight very talented CSers. 

Interests & Hobbies

In her free time, Zeina enjoys spending time with her husband and two sons.

Raphael has over a decade of cross-functional experience in transportation and transit, in both public and private transportation organizations. At CS, he helps guide strategy for mobility information software and serves as a project manager for engagements involving customer-facing real-time data and multimodal trip planning.

Marisela Cruz is a Certified Federal Contract Manager who possesses a broad knowledge of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. She has more than eight years of experience providing advice and guidance on a wide range of contractual activities, serving as an expert in all matters involving the interpretation of contract requirements and company policies.

She has successfully negotiated and managed GSA, IDIQ, T&M, FFP, and CPFF contracts of products and professional services supporting the Department of Defense and the United States Forest Service.
She has exceptional track record in reviewing RFPs; assisting in preparation of cost proposals and budgets; developing competitive and profitable rates and overall pricing strategies; negotiating pricing and rates with government clients; and responding to pre-award/post-award audits.

Interests & Hobbies

In her spare time, you can catch Marisela tasting different cuisines with her friends at restaurants in downtown Chicago or hiking with her husband and Gunther, their basset hound/bloodhound mix. When Marisela isn’t dining or hiking, she’s solving Sudoku or watching one of her favorite TV shows, Game of Thrones (only up to the seventh season).

Feng Liu, Ph.D., a Principal and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Manager of CS’ analytics, modeling and forecasting business line, has approximately 30 years of experience in developing and enhancing models and conducting travel demand forecasting in support of a wide spectrum of planning studies at local, metropolitan, and state levels. He has proven strong technical expertise in a variety of modeling techniques and methods, including data analytics, model development and applications. He has a proven track record of managing complex and challenging projects, serving as program manager, project manager, and principle-in-charge in numerous projects/programs, including recently an integrated modeling system with macro-modeling and mesoscopic simulation for Northern Virginia and activity-based models.

Interests & Hobbies

In his free time, Feng enjoys traveling.

Flora Castillo has over 20 years of experience as an accomplished and nationally recognized healthcare executive and a mobility and public transportation thought leader. Castillo is the President of Pivot Strategies, LLC, a consulting firm serving the infrastructure, aviation, healthcare and insurance industries. Her executive leadership in healthcare has led to transformative customer engagement, acquisition and health promotion strategies for the nation’s leading healthcare companies, including UnitedHealthcare and AmeriHealth Caritas. As former Vice President of Transportation for UnitedHealth Group, Castillo led innovative pilots to address social determinants of health barriers and spearheaded a medical transportation services program. Castillo also brings decades of experience as a former member of the board for multiple non-profit equity, transit and media organizations including National Urban Fellows, Rail-Volution, WHYY and others. In addition, Castillo was the first Latina and sixth woman elected chair to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). In this role, Castillo represented APTA as an industry spokesperson in the U.S., Canada and other international associations. Serving as a senior policymaker and board member of New Jersey Transit between 1999 and 2019, Castillo was a champion for equity and affordability for transit-dependent riders and an advocate for service expansions and emerging technologies. Castillo holds a B.S. in Management Business Administration from Long Island University.

Lauren has over eight years of experience overseeing and administering transportation planning programs. Prior to joining CS, Lauren was a Senior Planner at a mid-sized MPO in New York, creating and analyzing data to support sustainable transportation and land use policies. She specializes in data analysis, public engagement, and multimodal planning.

Interests & Hobbies

Lauren loves reading, staying active, and exploring new places. She lives with her husband and two dogs in the Mid-Hudson Valley.

Mae Lewis-Workman is a Junior Analyst with experience in transport policy and economics. Before joining CS, she was an economist at the U.S. DOT Volpe Center, where she gained experience analyzing travel behavior and assessing transportation project and policy impacts using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Mae holds a Master's of Public Administration from Columbia University, and degrees in Economics and Mathematics from Barnard College.

Interests & Hobbies

Mae lives in Manhattan and enjoys spending her free time exploring new places, taking long walks, and discovering great food.

David Ferreira has more than 30 years of corporate and consulting experience across a wide range of industries, companies and business cycles. He has held senior positions at GE, KPMG, and Beneficial; founded Back Bay Consulting; and most recently served as Chief Administrative Officer for Abt Associates. His primary focus has been helping companies grow and improve performance through roles in business strategy and planning, organizational assessment and talent management. Earlier in his career Mr. Ferreira worked as a Prosecutor for the Massachusetts Attorney General and a Public Defender for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Social Venture Partners and is a past board member of the Harvard Medical School Bio-Medical Science Career Program, the American Financial Services Association, and the Somerville New Jersey Home for Temporarily Displaced Children. Mr. Ferreira received a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Michigan, a Master’s in Law from the University of Amsterdam, a Juris Doctorate from New England Law, and a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.

Ryan J. Ellis is a Market Leader at Cambridge Systematics, Inc. (CS), as part of the Planning division at the firm. Based in Atlanta, GA, Ryan brings over fifteen years of experience in transportation marketing, communications, sales, and public/employer engagement. Paired with his work experience in both the public and private sectors, Ryan works to connect our clients’ vision to the unique planning services offered by CS. Before joining Cambridge, he served as a lead Marketing Strategist with ICF International’s Georgia Transportation practice, where his work included business development and branding and communications assistance for projects such as the New York Department of Transportation’s statewide Transportation Demand Management program and ITS4US demonstrations in Gwinnett County, Georgia, and Buffalo, New York.

Interests & Hobbies

Outside of work, Ryan and his partner, Josue, are avid travelers, often spending time exploring new countries and destinations each year. Currently, they reside just outside of Atlanta, GA, along with their two dogs rescue dogs, Mikey and Bulleit.

Prior to joining CS, Josué served as a Senior Corporate Accountant, where he managed general ledger operations, handled month-end close, revenue recognition, invoicing, and led process improvement efforts including ERP implementation and automation. He’s worked closely with cross-functional teams to improve reporting processes and enhance overall financial operations. At CS, Josué will be responsible for support within the Accounting department in areas such as financial accounting and reporting, accounts payable, month end journal entries, account reconciliation, expense report processing, and general ledger support.

Interests & Hobbies

Outside of work, Josué enjoys staying active—whether he's training for marathons, or going fishing when he gets the chance. He’s also into photography and always has a DIY project in the works. When he’s not tackling something hands-on, he’s likely spending time with loved ones.

Dalia has 19 years of experience planning for the future of multimodal mobility. Her work focuses on transit planning and analysis, travel demand forecasting, and performance-based planning. Dalia has been involved in exciting planning work around the country, particularly in her hometown - the Washington DC metropolitan region. In her projects, Dalia uses her unique expertise to combine the technical areas of modeling, planning, and engineering to distill highly technical analysis to decision-makers and the public in a way that is understandable and useful. 

Interests & Hobbies

Dalia lives in Washington, DC and enjoys exploring restaurants and theaters in and around the District. She is currently planning more trips than she will ever actually get to take.

Vanessa manages internal communications and plays an integral role in driving strategic alignment across Cambridge Systematics’ various functions and groups. With over a decade of communications and marketing experience, she builds relationships across CS to keep employees informed and foster shared understanding, connections, and engagement. Vanessa is passionate about people-centric communication and advancing positive employee experiences and workplace culture. 

Interests & Hobbies

In her spare time, Vanessa loves reading, cooking, trying new workouts and experiencing as much of the world as she can through travel.

Brad is the President & CEO of Cambridge Systematics, Inc. Prior to his appointment as CEO in 2011, he founded and led several CS business lines focused on technology planning in transportation, freight transportation, and developing and implementing software solutions for our clients. Before joining CS, Brad worked for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and in Civil Engineering Group at United Parcel Service. He has a B.S., in Business Management from Northeastern University.

Interests & Hobbies

Brad lives outside of Boston with his wife and three sons. In his free time Brad enjoys playing golf and watching his kids play football, hockey and lacrosse. He also enjoys spending time on Long Island, Maine, where he is a member of the Civic Association's Board of Directors.

I work in traffic operations and I have been with CS for over three and half years. My work areas include transportation system management and operations (TSMO), intelligent transportation systems (ITS), traffic signal design and analysis, travel time analysis, traffic safety studies and transportation data analysis. I have been involved in diverse projects focused on areas such as integrated corridor management, managed lanes operations, connected and autonomous vehicles, DTA simulations etc. My simulation/intersection analysis skills include AIMSUN, VISSIM, TransModeler, VISTRO and SYNCHRO, spatial analysis skills include QGIS and ArcGIS, and my programming and analytical skills include Python, MATLAB, R Studio, Tableau and JMP.

Interests & Hobbies

My hobbies include playing and watching cricket and soccer; photography; watching movies; and travelling. I am a fun loving person and I like to make new friends.

Danny Shopf is an Associate with Cambridge Systematics, Inc. He has experience in long range policy planning and safety planning. Danny provides support for the development and implementation of Florida's statewide long range plan, the Florida Transportation Plan (FTP) and Florida high-priority transportation network with the Strategic Intermodal System (SIS) Policy Plan. Danny has also developed Strategic Highway Safety Plans (SHSPs) for multiple states and currently supports multiple traffic safety coalitions focused on SHSP implementation. Danny is also the Team Leader for Florida's Analyst support team.

Kaveh is a recognized national expert in freight modeling and data with experience across 25 U.S. states and internationally (Canada and Australia) in developing national, statewide, and urban freight forecasting models. Kaveh is an active member of the TRB’s Freight Transportation Data (AED70), Freight Transportation Planning (AT015), and Freight Modeling (AT015-1) committees. He has led national, statewide, and regional freight modeling projects with various agencies such as Federal (FHWA, TRB), State DOTs (such as California, Utah, Florida, New York, Michigan, and Oregon), and regional (such as SANDAG, SCAG, CMAP, and SEMCOG). Kaveh has pioneered innovative methods in big data processing and expansion, truck classification analysis, and commodity flow data fusion. He has published an ACRP Report (2017) which synthesizes and estimates truck trip generation rates for airport air cargo activities. He has also published an FHWA Report (2019) which evaluates the handful of behavioral/agent-based supply chain freight models in the U.S.

Interests & Hobbies

Kaveh works from his home office in San Diego, California and enjoys outdoor activities and playing competitive sports (soccer, volleyball, table tennis, foosball, chess, etc.) all year round. He loves palying games, eating Persian food, and traveling with his wife in his free time.

Throughout his career at CS, Joe Zissman has sought creative, innovative solutions to transportation problems. He takes pride in a track record of engaging products that are attractive, communicate with clarity, and reflect well on clients. He has substantial experience working with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation on a diverse slate of projects: asset management, capital planning, freight and multimodal planning, shared travel, and congestion management. He has supported public sector clients across the United States in all of these fields as well, and has been a substantial contributor to Federal research on performance, asset, and risk management, communication, and data visualization.

Interests & Hobbies

Joe has had the wonderful luck to apply his passion for Boston's urban and development history in so much of his professional work. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Karen D. Nocito, CPA, serves as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Cambridge Systematics. Ms. Nocito serves as a key member of the Executive Leadership Team of Cambridge Systematics. She devises and implements growth and profitability strategies, helps to further strengthen the firm’s internal accounting controls and processes, and identifies cost reduction strategies. She has more than 25 years of experience in accounting, including strategic planning and implementation; team leadership; stakeholder relations; government contracting; audits; forecasting and budgeting; compliance; business process improvement; and policies and procedures. Before her appointment as CFO in 2016, Ms. Nocito served for 19 years as CS’ Controller; in that capacity she led a comprehensive re-engineering of the CS Accounting department that elevated the Accounting team’s role as a partner to the firm’s business lines while optimally organizing it around the functional needs of the firm and its clients. Prior to joining Cambridge Systematics in 1997, Ms. Nocito held positions of increasing breadth and responsibility in the professional services and manufacturing sectors. She earned a bachelor of science in accounting from Fitchburg State College and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Massachusetts.

Interests & Hobbies

Karen enjoys reading, cooking, gardening, and most importantly time with family. The best part of life is when all those line up together. Karen has participated in a book club with her sisters for the past several years. Some of those books are discovered by randomly picking a letter in the alphabet for an author's name and wandering the shelves of the local library for an interesting jacket cover. Favorite recipes at those meetings include those passed down through generations via old school recipe cards and new options with local, seasonal ingredients.

Robert Skinner served as the Executive Director of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine from 1994 to 2015. Prior to becoming Executive Director, Skinner directed TRB’s policy study activities. Before joining TRB, Mr. Skinner was a Vice President of Alan M. Voorhees and Associates, a transportation consulting firm.

In a volunteer capacity, Skinner served on the Metrolink (Los Angeles) Commuter Rail Safety Review Panel and chaired the Special Advisory Panel for the Stem-to-Stern Safety Review of the Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project. In addition, he has served on a number of university and other research advisory groups. Current assignments include the advisory boards for the MIT-Portugal Project; the University Transportation Center, a joint research center of Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pennsylvania; UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies; the Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers; and NCE, a Nevada-based engineering firm.

Skinner earned his bachelor degree in civil engineering from the University of Virginia and received a master degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A registered professional engineer, Skinner has received the Director’s Research Champion Award from the Texas Transportation Institute (2011), the James Laurie Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (2003), and the P.D. McLean Memorial Award from the Road Gang (2001). He was the 2015 recipient of the Frank Turner Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Transportation and the 2016 recipient of the George S. Bartlett Award.

Pearl graduated from UCLA Master of Urban and Regional Planning in June 2023. During her graduate studies, she worked with various public transportation agencies on environmental planning for transportation projects and active transportation projects. Pearl completed her Master program with the awarded capstone project on addressing gender-based violence on public transit.

Interests & Hobbies

In her free time, Pearl enjoys traveling and exploring different cultures. She's a regular at the reformer pilate workout classes!

Seema Singh is a Senior Professional in the Planning team at CS. Seema brings 10+ years of experience working at the research-policy-planning-and-education interfaces in sustainable development and transportation planning. She is a recent PhD in City and Regional Planning from Cornell where her research focused on mainstreaming gender and equity considerations into transportation policies and planning practices. Prior to that, Seema worked as a Research Associate at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) where she led several projects assessing the social, economic, and environmental impacts of transportation policies and programs. At CS, Seema is excited to bring her equity expertise to projects and clients across the US, and is currently supporting transit and research projects for NJDOT and CapMetro.

Interests & Hobbies

Outside work, Seema is an artist at heart and loves to paint. She also likes to travel and try different cuisines.

Over 20 years of experience in facilities and office services management.  Has worked in various industries including banking, financial services and retail technology.

Interests & Hobbies

Enjoys live music, traveling, exercising, horror movies/shows and Persian culture/language/foods.

Baird Bream is a Senior Associate at Cambridge Systematics, Inc. (CS) team with a specialization in human services transportation planning, regulatory compliance and performance management. He has experience applying regulatory standards to operational environments, organizational frameworks, and planning processes to ensure compliance with Federal and state program standards and to encourage the adoption of best practices. He has developed project prioritization and policy analysis frameworks to support long-range planning efforts for transportation departments and transit agencies across the country, with a focus area on emerging mobility solutions for non-traditional transit markets and populations. 

Interests & Hobbies

In his free time, Baird enjoys running, cooking, exploring neighborhoods, and cheering for the Memphis Grizzlies. He lives in Chicago. 

Ms. Wakeman has more than 10 years of experience and serves as a Senior Designer. At Cambridge Systematics (CS), she conceives and creates a full range of design products, including infographics, logos, product overviews, brochures, print ads, posters, and cards—integrating new design concepts and themes to meet unique requirements of individual clients. She edits documents for grammar, spelling, punctuation, format, and overall consistency according to the firm’s style sheet or client guidelines. She creates special formats and templates from client specifications and proofreads completed hard copies of documents for revision quality and correct formatting. She is trained in ArcGIS and has developed a range of maps for project deliverables. In addition, she has extensive experience in Section 508 compliance.

Interests & Hobbies

In her free time she enjoys playing ultimate frisbee, hiking, and cooking new dishes.

Greta joined CS in 2022 after three years of modeling experience for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. She brings experience in model calibration & validation, survey analysis, statistics, network editing, and GIS.

Interests & Hobbies

In her free time, Greta likes exploring the restaurant scene of Oakland (thanks to AC buses and the BART), reading sci-fi & fantasy novels, hiking, and traveling with her partner, Peter.

Suseel Indrakanti, AICP is a Principal and the Practice Lead for Resilience and Sustainability at CS. Over his 16 years of experience, Suseel has provided leadership and expertise on projects pertaining to transportation resilience, climate action planning, and climate finance. He has worked on major practice-leading climate resilience and greenhouse gas mitigating projects in various settings, including local, State, regional, and international efforts and for a variety of clients. His extensive experience involves conducting climate change vulnerability and risk assessments, including the design of tools that support the integration of adaptation planning into broader transportation project life-cycle and development processes. He supported several FHWA resilience pilots over the years. He has led various efforts on mainstreaming climate change considerations into transportation policy-making and enabling agencies to create frameworks for making climate-resilient transport investments.

Interests & Hobbies

Suseel loves music and likes to spend time with family.

Russ has over 15 years of experience in traffic safety, public policy, advocacy, communications, strategic planning, and association program, meeting, training management, and traffic records. He assists CS clients in developing and implementing impactful traffic safety programs on the National, State, regional, and local levels, including Strategic Highway Safety Plans (SHSPs), Highway Safety Improvement Programs (HSIP), Triennial Highway Safety Plan (THSPs), Vision Zero and Safe Streets and Roads for All Safety Plans, as well as research initiatives for the National Cooperative Highway Safety Research Program (NCHRP) and Behavioral Traffic Safety Research Program (BTSCRP). He is a national expert on behavioral aspects of traffic safety. Prior to joining CS, Russ was Senior Director of Policy and Government Relations at the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), where he represented GHSA's state and territorial highway safety office members on the national level and supported the implementation of impactful state and local traffic safety programs. Russ also served at AAA National where he helped AAA's network of motor clubs advocate to improve state traffic safety laws and initiatives. Throughout his career, Russ has partnered with a constellation of policymakers, advocates, government agencies, insurers, automakers, tech companies, criminal justice and public health authorities, researchers, engineers, and other stakeholders to improve transportation for all and prevent crashes, deaths and injuries on our roads.

Interests & Hobbies

Russ lives in Northern Virginia and enjoys listening to and making music, visiting bookstores, cooking at home, and spending time with family.

Along with project management and team leadership skills, Nicole is also talented in fostering collaborative relationships, identifying client needs with effective resources to resolve them, and organizing meetings and forums. Proficient in performing both qualitative and quantitative research, prior to joining CS, she managed planning research and technical assistance at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG). She serves as the Vice Chair of the Regional and Intergovernmental Planning Division for the American Planning Association. 

Interests & Hobbies

Outside her professional interests, Nicole is active in her community and volunteers for the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, Holden Forests and Gardens, and as a Master Gardener for Cuyahoga County. She was appointed to the City of Shaker Heights Tree Advisory Board.

With nearly 15 years of experience in transportation finance, planning, and operations, Ms. Chapman assists clients in developing financial models to analyze operating costs, fee structures, and capital needs; assessing alternative revenue sources and regional economic impacts; as well as compiling financial assessments to ensure capital sources and/or operating funds match programmed uses.

Interests & Hobbies

Emma enjoys exploring Chicago's many neighborhoods by bike as well as riding new transit systems. She lives in Chicago with her husband, an architect and city planner, and their dog and cat.

Xinbo holds a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Northwestern Polytechnical University, as well as a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Purdue University. Prior to joining CS, Xinbo served as a Senior Transportation Engineer at Evansville MPO, where he crafted travel demand model, microsimulation models and customized tools, while also conducting engineering and big data analyses. Here at CS, Xinbo will continue his commitment to developing effective, efficient, and user-friendly models.

Interests & Hobbies

Beyond his professional pursuits, Xinbo is an avid traveler, soccer enthusiast, and board game aficionado. He also shares his home with two beloved cats and tends to a thriving collection of koi fish. We're delighted to have Xinbo on board and look forward to his contributions to our team!