Melissa utilizes her personal story as a springboard to educate, encourage, and empower others, as she sets a powerful tone which showcases resiliency and continued momentum. She actively shares her message by encouraging authentic leadership, inspiration, and resolution. As the President of the National Coalition for Safer Roads (NCSR), the Founder and President of The Mark Wandall Foundation, a national advocate for Families for Safe Streets, a powerful force behind the passing of Florida's Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Act, and a spokesperson and ambassador for both Vision Zero and Target Zero platforms, Melissa utilizes her skills and expertise to engage others, helping all to achieve greater impact.

Tim Fox is based in Richmond VA, serving as a Vice President for Iteris' Mobility Operations Services and the company's National Practice Lead for TMC operations. He has over 29 years of ITS experience in Virginia, having continuously supported VDOT's TOC program since 1994. Tim is a member of the Program Leadership Team for VDOT's contracted Statewide TOC Services program, specializing as the Statewide TOC Manager. Tim joined the ITSVA Board of Directors in 2021.

17 years of combined incident management experience in law enforcement, Safety Service Patrol, management, Security, and contract monitoring.

John is a Vice President with AECOM and has been employed with AECOM going on 20 years. He is passionate about assisting clients in the field of congestion mitigation and management. Currently, is the Project Manager for the VDOT Traffic Operation Services Project that includes management of the VDOT (5) Traffic Operations Centers and the Statewide SSP Services. His greatest accomplishment is being married for 30 years and raising (2) beautiful successful daughters.

Crystal has over 16 years of experience working in various roles and responsibilities at the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) within the Maintenance and Operations Programs. In her current role she serves as the VDOT Statewide Traveler Information Program Specialist within the Traffic Operations Division where she oversees VDOT's 511 services (web, phone, and mobile apps) and ensures the delivery of accurate, reliable and consistent traveler information to the public, and data and video products to third parties.

Crystal also serves on several Eastern Transportation Coalition (TETC) Committees and working groups representing VDOT. She recently implemented the IRIS Eyes live streaming video app (Information Logistics) and Commercial Vehicle Safety Alerts service (Drivewyze/ Inrix) for VDOT.

During her time with VDOT, Crystal earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Old Dominion University and Master of Business Administration from American Military University. She additionally earned her Project Management Professional certification from PMI and VITA.

Brad Williamson is a Director of Project Management at Iteris with 31 years of experience in project management, product design, and ITS with a specialized focus on traveler information systems. Brad earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University and his Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

He and his wife Jane live in Midlothian, Virginia and enjoy camping and working with high school robotics teams.

Dr. Masoud Hamedi is the Director of Data Science and Analytics at Iteris, responsible for data driven research and development in the transportation analytics space. He works closely with the development team and users to make sure that Iteris's data analytics products continue to grow and stay competitive in the industry. His team of data scientists explore applications of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence methods to create descriptive and predictive models for transportation safety and mobility. Masoud has a BSc in Computer Science, Masters in Systems Engineering and graduated from University of Maryland with a PhD in Transportation Engineering.

Amanda has over 19 years of experience in the transportation industry. Her focus has been on state and regional ITS planning, specifically regional ITS architectures, TSMO plan development and its connection to the regional ITS architecture, connected and autonomous vehicles (CAV), and ITS operations. Amanda has worked on regional ITS architectures across the US including Michigan, North Carolina, California, Arizona, and Florida. Amanda is involved in several new and upcoming technologies that focus on safety and mobility, stakeholder involvement, incorporating local agencies, municipalities, and state feedback into their planning/project process, and serving as both the Business Process lead for NCDOT Traffic Incident Management contract and NCDOT CAV Program Manager. Amanda is a certified Project Management Professional, is on the board for ITS Carolinas, a member of both ITS Michigan and the NC Section of ITE.

Sachin Rai is a Senior Project Manager with HNTB Corporation. He has 20 years of experience in the field of ITS, Traffic Operations and Safety. In the past, he has served as the co-chair of ITE Intelligent Traffic Signals Operations Committee. Sachin joined the ITSVA Board in 2021.

Ram Kandarpa is a Vice President at Iteris where he focuses on their emerging transportation technologies practice covering connected vehicles and infrastructure, automated vehicles, smart cities, and future mobility. His team provides consulting services to federal, state, and local clients to help achieve their mission to improve transportation safety, mobility, environment, and productivity. Ram has a Master's degree in Transportation Engineering from Virginia Tech.

Andrew has spent the last 15 years focused on projects that decarbonize transportation. He brings relationships throughout the clean transportation sector, deep expertise in emissions reduction programs and a strong understanding of the U.S. DOE's priorities around emissions reduction. He is recognized as a national U.S. DOE Clean Cities Leader for his work as consulting services director for Clean Fuels Ohio. Andrew has secured $58 million in competitive funding for clean transportation projects and has implemented EV pilot projects across the country. Most recently, Andrew's work at HNTB has included assisting in the successful delivery of 10 NEVI plans and now assisting with various implementation activities with 12 DOTs.

Chris Swanson serves as VDOT's Environmental Division Director. In his role, Chris and a team of environmental experts work to balance environmental issues with transportation needs. The Division's responsibilities include environmental review, permitting, compliance assessments, and other technical support throughout the planning, delivery, and maintenance of the transportation infrastructure. Most recently in 2022, the Environmental Division created the Office of Transportation Sustainability to address the areas of resilience, decarbonization and land stewardship.

Nate Rahaim is a Project Engineer with 8 years of experience in traffic analysis and design, including developing traffic management plans, conducting work zone traffic analysis, and work zone safety analysis. In addition to being a registered professional engineer in the state of Delaware, he is also a certified Professional Traffic Operations Engineer (PTOE) and Roadway Safety Professional (RSP).

Alan Toppen, P.E., has 24 years of experience serving clients in the areas of transportation technology and data analytics. He has degrees in Civil Engineering from Cornell and the University of Texas. Alan has been with Kimley-Horn for 19 years and serves on the Executive Board of ITS Virginia.

Governor Youngkin appointed Rachel Jones Deputy Secretary of Transportation in January of 2023. The Agencies the Secretariat oversees move people and goods by rail, air, water, transit, and over our roadways, opening Virginia to economic opportunity by creating access to regional, national, and world markets.

Before joining the Governor's office, she was a key voice for manufacturing on Capitol Hill, at federal agencies, in the courts and across all forms of media. Jones also served as environment and energy counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives and legal fellow for the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Paul Szatkowski, P.E., is an Assistant Division Administrator for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Traffic Operations Division. He leads the Operations Delivery area which is responsible for advancing many Operations programs and projects originating from the Innovation and Technology Transportation Fund, Interstate Operations and Enhancement Program, Parking Management Programs, etc. The unit strives to advance the program with project management support, fiscal planning, evaluations, and streamlining delivery activities. Paul has been worked in the Traffic Operations program for 14 years. He has previously worked in the VDOT's transportation security program and special facility maintenance program. Paul holds a B.S. and M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Virginia Tech.

Dr. Michael Mollenhauer is the Director of the Division of Technology Implementation at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute where he has led transportation safety and technology development research programs for over 16 years. He leads a team of researchers and engineers that help customers conduct early-stage deployment and evaluation of connected and automated vehicle systems. More recently, his team has been awarded $10M to implement smart cities technologies in Falls Church, Virginia. Mike's team is also leading VTTI's efforts to develop and demonstrate smart work zone technologies including a work zone design software tool, smart vests, smart helmets, camera-based work zone intrusion detection, and an automated truck mounted attenuator vehicle.

Dr. Xie is the director of the Transportation Informatics Lab and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Old Dominion University (ODU). He holds a Ph.D. degree in transportation planning and engineering from New York University. His research concentrates on the use of data-driven approaches and emerging technologies to enhance the safety, efficiency and resiliency of transportation systems. He has published over 100 refereed papers in scholarly journals and conference proceedings and is recognized by research awards such as IEEE ITS Best Dissertation Award, CUTC Milton Pikarsky Memorial Award and Transportation Research Board (TRB) Best Paper Award. He serves as an Associate Editor for Transportation Research Board and an Editorial Borad Member for Accident Analysis and Prevention.

Kodi has a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan Technological University, is a Professional Engineer licensed in Virginia and North Carolina, and has been with Kimley-Horn for nine years. Kodi's background is in traffic and ITS systems planning, communications design, and lighting photometric and electrical design. She has supported updates to the VDOT Statewide Transportation Communication Master Plan and updates to the VDOT Statewide ITS Specifications, has led various traffic signal interconnect and ATMS upgrades across the Commonwealth, and is currently leading the TDOT Statewide Roadway Lighting Design Services On-Call Contract.

Kodi also serves as the Vice President of the Hampton Roads Chapter of the Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) and is actively involved in the Tidewater Section of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES).

Kevin began his VDOT career in the Lynchburg District on the survey party while attending Community College. He spent five years as a Bridge Safety Inspector before leaving the district for the Engineer Training Program.

Kevin has over 40 years of international, domestic and state surface transportation expertise from both the public and private sectors, including 29 years with VDOT in residencies, districts and Central Office. He took a short 15 year break in the middle working as a contractor and consultant.

Among his chief positions, he has served as resident engineer, deputy district administrator for both the Richmond and Hampton Roads districts, and has also served as the state maintenance administrator in Central Office. He took over as the Chief of Maintenance and Operations in the fall of 2019.

Kevin holds a bachelor's degree and master's degree. He is a graduate of the Virginia Executive Institute, the Commonwealth Management Institute and the Transportation Construction Management Institute.

Sandy is the Assistant Commissioner for Data Management (DM) at the Department of Motor Vehicles. The DM administration is responsible for implementing the agency's data governance program. Prior to this position, Sandy served as the Director of Data Management Services (DMS), which is tasked with ensuring the release of DMV data complies with the applicable federal and state laws, processing customer use agreements and renewals, and managing data integrity initiatives. Sandy began her DMV career as an analyst in the Legal Services Department. Before joining DMV, Sandy worked for the Supreme Court of Virginia for nine years, including six years in the Chief Staff Attorney's office, and three years working directly for the late Chief Justice Hassell as his counsel and administrative director. Sandy began her career working at a private firm as an insurance defense litigator.

Zach Trogdon has over two decades of government service at the local and state level. Mr. Trogdon has worked for the last seven years in the public transit field. During his career, Mr. Trogdon has seen IT projects, when designed and implemented well, greatly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of public organizations. While a transit agency head, he worked on projects involving real-time vehicle location and arrival information, mobile surveillance on transit vehicles, on-demand scheduling, and mobile electronic payment functionality.