Each month we choose a member of YPT-NYC to interview and spotlight in our newsletter!
Keep scrolling to preview all of our Member Profiles. Or see here for a complete list!
If you have a suggestion for a Member Profile, we would love to hear it! Just fill out the form below with your name, your email, and the name of the YPT-NYC member you would like to nominate!
May Member Profile: Yanisa Techagumthorn
Senior Associate at Nelson\Nygaard Yanisa Techagumthorn is a transportation planner dedicated to improving public transit, which she sees as a great way to increase the wellbeing of communities and the environment. She is a Senior Associate at Nelson\Nygaard, where she focuses on bus service planning, transit master plans, and equity in transportation. She works with…
April Member Profile: Matthew Kalish
Transportation Planner at VHB Matthew Kalish is a transit and rail planner at VHB with a passion for creating more livable cities and towns, and working on improving public transportation and promoting active mobility to help make that possible. Throughout his time at VHB, Matthew has worked on a variety of transit projects in the…
March Member Profile: Alexandra Matri Aiello
Senior Manager of Planning, MTA Construction and Development Alexandra Aiello is a Senior Manager of Planning at MTA Construction and Development. Prior to joining C&D in 2022, she was at MTA Bridges and Tunnels where she worked on the Central Business District Tolling Program and the Cashless Tolling Transition. Previously, she was a GIS Analyst…
January Member Profile: Phil Betheil
Deputy Director, Bus Priority at NYCDOT Philip Betheil is a transit enthusiast and planner who loves working to improve bus service for all New Yorkers as Deputy Director for Bus Priority at NYCDOT. 1. What is your favorite YPT-NYC memory? It’s too hard to choose one, but it’d have to be from the wonderful tours…
November Member Profile: Kemal Gefar
Name: Kemal GefarEmployer: Mitsubishi ElectricTitle: Systems Engineer Bio: Kemal is a transportation professional with over 10 years of experience in engineering and infrastructure projects, 8 of which are focused on train control systems for metro and commuter rail systems with progressively responsible roles at transportation agencies, an engineering consultancy, and a multinational supplier. He currently works…
Member Profile: Jimmy Wang
KPMG, Infrastructure and Projects Advisory “I’m a consultant with KPMG’s Infrastructure and Projects Advisory practice in New York. Our group specializes in providing financial and strategic advisory services to public and private sector clients involved in infrastructure or major construction projects. We work directly with public agencies and corporate clients at the management level to…
Member Profile: Raymond Tam, PE
Transportation Engineer at Greenman-Pedersen Inc Raymond Tam is a transportation engineer and avid urbanist. He has worked on Transit Signal Priority, ADA pedestrian ramps, and asset management for the Empire State Trail. He is passionate about transit-oriented design and complete streets. He enjoys exploring historical sites of NYC and is planning on touring Gracie Mansion…
Member Profile: Daniel Feintuck
Discovery Attorney, Litigation Analyst and Bar Committee Member 1. What is your favorite YPT-NYC memory? My first Transportation Camp. The exchange of ideas, and refreshing format, really gave me a different taste of things than what I get in the legal community. 2. If you could snap your fingers and make one change to regional transportation,…
Member Profile: Sophie Maerowitz
Sophie Maerowitz (she/her) Project Manager, Bicycles Unit, NYC Department of Transportation For the better half of a decade, Sophie Maerowitz has advocated for better cycling, pedestrian, and bus infrastructure in New York City, having served on Transportation Alternatives’ Manhattan Activist Committee and on Manhattan Community Board 3’s Transportation Committee as a public member. Notable advocacy milestones…
Member Profile: Priyanshu Sharma
Priyanshu Sharma Urban Planner & Designer at Equitable Cities Priyanshu is an urban planner and designer at Equitable Cities who specializes in transportation planning, design, data analysis, and visualization. He holds a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, as well as a bachelor’s…
Member Profile: Eric Rago
Eric Rago Director, Location Partnerships & Strategy at Getaround “I currently work for Getaround, a leading car-sharing company that operates in over 950 cities worldwide. I lead our public partnerships, private partnerships, strategy, and operations teams. These teams are focused on creating partnerships to grow carshare from a single hotel to entire cities. Prior to…
Member Profile: Axel Hellman
Axel Hellman Co-Founder and Special Vice President of Lines at Rally OurBus A co-founder and I started OurBus, one of the leading brands for intercity bus service in the Northeast. We are a tech and marketing platform and do not actually own any buses—they are contracted out. We recently merged with Rally, another tech platform…
Member Profile: Lauren Rushing
Lauren RushingLauren Rushing Consulting, LLCMobility Planner and and Cycling Advocate Twitter: @CycleRush Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lauren.rushing.16 Instagram: @laurenrushing LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-rushing-832a47102/ Lauren Rushing is a former YPT-NYC board member and an independent mobility planning consultant and cycling advocate. Lauren works with clients to develop strategic mobility plans for local governments, with a focus on creating complete and integrated…
Member Profile: Lauren Clark
Lauren ClarkNJ TransitPrincipal Projects & Strategic Investment Program Coordinator. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/laurclar Lauren Clark is a writer and transit professional who specializes in driving organizational transformation. 1. What is your favorite YPT-NYC event and why? Each event I attend successively becomes my favorite. I loved going behind the scenes at Grand Central this fall. Can’t wait to…
Member Profile: Modou Cham
Modou ChamICFSenior Associate, Transportation & Smart Mobility Twitter: @modoucham LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/modoumcham I’m originally from the Gambia, West Africa, but live in Brooklyn, New York. I currently work at ICF as a Senior Associate in Commuter Services and Mobility Specialist within the Climate, Energy and Transportation division working on Transportation Demand Management (TDM) projects and studies…
Member Profile: Daniel Wood
Daniel WoodMTA – New York City TransitManager, Ridership Modeling Development I grew up on Cape Cod, Mass, where I eventually got tired of living in a completely car-dominated place, and went off to college in Philly, where I first became interested in transportation professionally. After a couple of transportation-related internships, I went to grad school…
Member Profile: Diane Xiao
Diane Xiao, PE, ENV SP: Project Engineer at VHB Diane is a Project Engineer at VHB. She specializes in traffic and pedestrian analysis with a background in Transit Signal Priority (TSP) projects and simulation modeling. She is passionate about Complete Streets, sustainable transportation, and pedestrian/bicyclist-oriented design. Linkedin: dianexiao (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianexiao/) 1. What is your favorite YPT-NYC…
Member Profile: Daniel Muniz
Daniel Muniz works for the New York City Department of Transportation where he has served as a Legal Consultant, Analyst, Senior Analyst, Deputy Director, and more recently as the Acting Chief of Staff for the Sidewalk Program. His current role focuses on Program Management which includes budgeting, planning, project delivery, and most importantly – the…
Member Profile: Antonio Sieunarine
Antonio Sieunarine is an Analyst working at the Department of Subways Rail Control Center. His current work focuses on capital projects that interfaces with the Rail Control Center including NYCT signal modernization efforts. Before arriving at the MTA, Antonio worked for the Newark Downtown District BID as an Urban Planner. Antonio also worked in the aviation…
Member Profile: Leah Flax
Leah Flax (@ResilientLeah), Government Relations Specialist, Government and Community Relations, MTA Leah Flax is an urban planner with expertise in public transportation, policy analysis, and partnership building. She currently works on bus and subway projects throughout Manhattan as a Government Relations Specialist at the MTA. Before joining the MTA, Leah worked at 100 Resilient Cities…
Member Profile: Dubary Brea
Dubary Brea, New York City Department of Transportation Dubary Brea is currently the Deputy Director of Federal Transit Administration Grant programs at the NYC Department of Transportation, where over the past four years he has managed a team that oversees the financial and programmatic management of over $500M in federal and state funding for infrastructure…
Member Profile: Ben Rosen-Filardo
Ben Rosen-Filardo (they/them), Transportation Engineer, Sam Schwartz Ben is an engineer with an interest in using data to improve transportation systems. They graduated from MIT in 2018 with a degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering. Ben has been at Sam Schwartz since starting as an intern in 2015. While not at work, they knit &…
Member Profile: Chelsea Ramos
Chelsea Ramos Technical Specialist in the Environmental, Energy, & Sustainability (EE&S) Department at NJ Transit Hi! My name is Chelsea Ramos, I am currently a Technical Specialist within the Environment, Energy, & Sustainability (EE&S) Department within NJ TRANSIT. I have worked for NJ Transit for approximately 7 years and my experiences have been very rewarding…
Member Profile: Kyle Kirschling
Kyle Kirschling Senior Director, Quality Assurance, New York City Transit Kyle M. Kirschling is an urbanist who specializes in improving cities’ infrastructure. He is a licensed CPA and has a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University. He is the author of “An Economic Analysis of Rapid Transit in New York, 1870-2010,” an evaluation…
Member Profile: Robert Joseph
Robert Joseph Bus Planner, MTA After growing up just outside NYC and attending college at Tufts near Boston, Robert returned to New York to pursue his planning degree at NYU. Since coming back to New York, Robert has worked for Kevin Dwarka Economic Consulting making plans in communities across the region, the Municipal Art Society of New York analyzing…
Member Profile: Casey Barrett
Casey Barrett, EIT, ENV SPCivil Associate II in Michael Baker’s Civil-Highway Department I earned my BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Manhattan College in 2015. I went on to work for Michael Baker in their Civil-Highway department, where I worked on a variety of projects from streetscape improvements to bridge replacements. My project tasks…
Member Profile: Rebecca (Ray) Noble
Rebecca (Ray) Noble works at New York City Emergency Management as a Transportation and Infrastructure Specialist. She hails from the Midwest and relocated to NYC to pursue a graduate degree in Urban Planning at Columbia University. When she’s not nerding out about transit, you can probably find her running around Prospect Park, reading, or…
Member Profile: Sunny Zheng
Sunny graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2017, during which time he spent two summers at the MTA, one at LIRR and one at NYCT Operations Planning. In 2018, he joined the NYCT Data Research & Development unit, where he was part of the team that built the Bus Performance Dashboard, and is now at…
Member Profile: Max Diamond
Max graduated from the CUNY City College of New York with a bachelor’s degree in Economics. Since June 2019, he has been a conductor on the B division (letter lines) of the subway system, and mainly works on the lines that run out of Queens.
Member Profile: Elizabeth Jule Gladoun
Elizabeth is a transportation analyst at VHB, where she specializes in providing transportation consulting services for New York City real estate and public infrastructure projects.
Member Profile: Tiffany Cummings
Tiffany Cummings is a transportation engineer at Stantec, specializing in long-term traffic and revenue forecasting for toll roads and managed lanes.
Member Profile: Mary Buchanan
Mary Buchanan is the research associate at TransitCenter, whose work uncovers practical, rider-focused solutions that make transit more functional and more equitable in U.S. cities.
Member Profile: Lauren Bailey
We’re excited to launch this year’s member profile series with Lauren Bailey, the Director of Climate Policy at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign!
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