YPT International 2013-2014 Board of Directors Candidates

Dear YPT Members and Friends,

The nominations are in and we have a great field of candidates for this year’s elections. We are a month out from elections –now is the time for the candidates to stump for your votes! The slate of candidates and their statements are below. Now is also the time to make sure your membership is up to date, or to become a member, if you want to vote this year.

ELECTIONS PROCESS 

• October 8, 2013: Last day to become a YPT member if you want to vote in this year’s elections – sign up or renew at http://my.yptransportation.org!
• October 10, 2013:  All eligible voters will receive an email with voting instructions.  Online voting for International and Chapter elections opens at 10:00 AM EST.
• October 25, 2013: Online voting for International and Chapter elections closes at 9:00 PM EST. Pending any runoff elections, the results will be made available to the YPT membership in early November.  The new Board term for all winning candidates will begin on November 1, 2013.

If you have questions about the elections process, please do not hesitate to contact us at elections@yptransportation.org.

Thank you and best of luck to all candidates,

Stephanie Dock

Vice Chair for Administration
Young Professionals in Transportation

 

2013-2013 YPT BOARD OF DIRECTORS CANDIDATES

Please note – due to space considerations, the names and organizations of individuals who are candidates for more than one position are listed under each position for which they are candidates, but their full candidate statement are listed only once if they submitted only one statement for all positions.

Chair – 1 candidate

The Chair is responsible for day-to-day implementation of the policy and guidelines of the Board of Directors.  The Chair presides over Board meetings, creates and appoints members to Committees, and acts as chief official executive officer of the organization.

Katherine Kortum, Transportation Research Board (incumbent)

I have been the Chair of YPT for the past year, during which the organization grew and expanded dramatically. When I took office in November of 2012, YPT had seven chapters. We currently have nineteen, with additional chapters on the way.

While YPT National has had 501c6 status for a few years, it is only in the last year that we acquired a group exemption to cover all of our chapters. I coordinated with the IRS to submit appropriate documentation, answer their questions about the organization, and eventually acquire the group exemption status. In addition, I wrote our first annual IRS group exemption report, detailing the status of all of our subordinates (chapters) for IRS records.

I have overseen the implementation of a new membership, event, and payment database called CiviCRM. Previously, we had been using a jumble of Constant Contact to keep track of member emails, EventBrite to collect RSVPs for events, and Paypal for all financial transactions. Over the last year, we have worked with a developer to implement a custom-designed CRM (customer records management) system that combines all of these utilities into one nationwide network. Members can now control their own accounts, chapters can administer the details of their chapter memberships, and the National Board can keep track of a rapidly growing national organization. This included training for the national membership, coordination with the developer, authoring of instruction manuals, and working out a number of bugs as we took a new system live nationally.

I coordinated a new set of national chapter affiliation agreements and chapter bylaws. Many of the existing CAAs and bylaws varied from chapter to chapter and had been written before YPT began to grow to its current size. We rewrote the bylaws and CAA to adhere to current legal standards, ensured that they reflected the current practices and desires of YPT, streamlined much of the language, approved the new CAAs and bylaws with a national vote, and updated the documents of all of the chapters. I have also updated our national board of advisors as members rotated off, developed policies for chapter logos, initiated a monthly event series with our Board of Advisors, created a chapter for Washington DC that is distinct from the National Board, and developed a framework for including international chapters in the organization.

As YPT begins its first year of governance that is truly national, I would like to remain Chair in order to provide continuity and stability to the organization. YPT has accomplished a great deal over the last year and I would like to help us do the same in the coming year as well.

Deputy Chair – 4 candidates

The Deputy helps to coordinate activities involving multiple Officers and assists the Chair in his or her responsibilities.  In the absence of the Chair, the Deputy Chair acts in the official capacity of the Chair and performs all duties of that office.

Candace Brakewood, Georgia Tech
(Also a candidate for Vice Chair for Chapter Development)

As the YPT International Deputy Chair, I will work to foster the growth of YPT through the United States and abroad.  Over the past year, I have served on the national board as the At-Large Vice Chair responsible for chapter development.  During this time, I assisted in the creation of nine (9) new regional chapters and have facilitated communication between YPT International and all of the regional chapters.

Prior to joining the board of YPT International, I was co-founder and Chair of the first YPT chapter outside of Washington (Boston) from 2010 to 2012.  As Chair of the Boston Chapter, I led the rapid growth of the group to over 600 friends and members, and I established a diverse range of educational and networking events including a Distinguished Speaker Series featuring the Lieutenant Government of Massachusetts.

After two years as Boston Chair and one year on the board of YPT International, I would like to apply my experience and knowledge of YPT at a strategic level as the Deputy Chair of the organization.

Jack Cebe, Alta Planning + Design
(Also a candidate for Vice Chair for Programs)

My name is Jack Cebe, I am a planner and designer with Alta Planning + Design in Chicago, IL. I am submitting my nomination to be considered for the position of Deputy Chair with the Young Professionals in Transportation.

Alta’s core mission is to create active communities where bicycling and walking are safe, healthy, fun, and normal daily activities. As a professional, I strive to do the same through my work with various people, communities and organizations. My background is Landscape Architecture and my work experience has been primary focused on pedestrian and bicycle transportation and recreation planning and design.

I’ve worked with Alta for over two years and lived in Chicago a little over a year. In this time, I’ve had the opportunity to work on various projects in Chicago, other US cities, with state departments of transportation and the national Green Lane Project (greenlaneproject.org) to promote and advance walking and bicycling through policy, planning and design. If selected to serve as Deputy Chair of the Young Professionals in Transportation, I would use this experience to contribute to organizational discussions and efforts. I am fully capable of performing the duties associated with Deputy Chair, and I believe I would be a great candidate for this position based on my work experience and strengths. For example, one of my significant strengths is making connections among people – this will help me in fulfilling the Deputy Chair’s duty of coordinating activities among multiple officers.

I appreciate you considering me for the position of Deputy Chair of the Young Professionals in Transportation. If selected to serve as Deputy Chair, I will work to maintain seamless connection with the Organization’s members and understand organizational needs. If you have any questions or comments now, or in the future, feel free to contact me at jackcebe@altaplanning.com or 864-918-3380.

Thanks!

-Jack

Brittney Kohler, American Society of Civil Engineers (incumbent)
(Also a candidate for Vice Chair for Programs)

It has been my pleasure to serve on the national board as the Deputy Chair of YPT during this amazing year of working toward “Vision 2013”, which has taken YPT to the next level as an organization and will now allow us to go international. While we’ve had to really buckle down and get our administrative house in order, YPT has had a great year as we pushed to add new chapters and keep our current chapters growing.  We’ve also made a great investment that we’re going to really start to see the benefits from this year with our Customer Relations Management (CRM) system and use new tools like Square.  We’ve also started to build our partnerships for national events and conferences which will be a great outlet to continue to collaborate and connect across so many industries and cities. 2013 has been a HUGE growth year for YPT, and it would a privilege to continue to serve as the Deputy Chair this coming year.

Boris Lipkin, Parsons Brinckerhoff
(Also a candidate for Vice Chair for Administration)

Hello YPTers! My name is Boris Lipkin and I am excited to be running for the Deputy Chair and Vice Chair for Administration positions! As a founding Board Member of the San Francisco chapter of YPT, I have experienced firsthand what it takes to start a new YPT chapter and get it established.

In my two years serving as the Vice Chair for Sponsorship, we were able to take the chapter from a new organization that people were eager to check out to an organization that the San Francisco transportation community could continually depend on for meaningful programming and interesting events. In my role, I was able to attract funding for the chapter from 8 different sponsors, surpassing what we had established as a “stretch goal” for the amount the board wanted to raise by 40%.

My experience in San Francisco will be a valuable asset to the International Board of Directors as it helps guide new chapters through all of the steps of starting and developing a new YPT chapter. I will be able to bring the perspective of having gone through that process and seen what works and what doesn’t.

Serving as the Deputy Chair or as the Vice Chair for Administration I will aim to make sure that the policies that the International Board will establish over the next year will work to help the individual chapters achieve their objectives. In particular, I would like to help establish the roles and responsibilities of the International Board vis-à-vis the local chapters and what processes need to be standardized between the chapters versus which ones are better off left for the chapters to have maximum flexibility to make their own decisions on.

It has been an honor to serve on the San Francisco Board of Directors for the last two years and I would be thrilled to continue to help grow YPT across the country (and world) by joining the International Board of Directors!

Secretary/Vice Chair for Administration –1 candidate

The Secretary/Vice Chair for Administration keeps full and accurate records of all business and proceedings at Board meetings.  This includes preparing meeting minutes, keeping accurate organization records, and managing the election process, as well as coordinating with the Vice Chairs for Communications and Membership on managing IT resources such as CiviCRM, Dropbox, and Google Apps.

Boris Lipkin, Parsons Brinckerhoff
(Also a candidate for Deputy Chair)

Vice Chair for Finance – 1 candidate

The Treasurer/Vice Chair for Finance is responsible for the collection/disbursement of dues and the safekeeping of funds, including reporting of receipts, expenditures, and balances at the request of the Board. The Treasurer is responsible for the completion/submittal of all the necessary filings with the DC government and the IRS.

Andy House, AASHTO

I have served one year as YPT’s Deputy Vice Chair for Finance.

In addition to my past experience with the YPT Board of Directors, I have a strong background in transportation, with more than three years of experience in my job as a Policy Administration and Programs Coordinator at AASHTO, as well as having served as a transportation staffer for Rep. Nathan Deal from 2009-2010.

I have a Bachelor’s Degree with a double major in Political Science and Sociology from the Piedmont College (Ga.).

I look forward to having an opportunity to serve YPT on its Board.

Vice Chair for Communications – 2 candidates

The Vice Chair for Communications is responsible for activities and communications that promote YPT to the general public. The Vice Chair coordinates activities that facilitate and encourage communication and fellowship among the members of YPT, including YPT’s email blasts, website, blog, and social media, as well as liaising between the editor of the quarterly Mobility Matters magazine and the YPT Board. Some experience with email blast platforms like MailChimp or CiviCRM is helpful.  Basic familiarity with HTML and WordPress is recommended.

Melissa Chow, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

My name is Melissa Chow, and I am interested in the Vice Chair for Communications position. I would like to continue improving the communication stream from YPT that was begun a few years ago with the re-launching of the YPT website, and the expansion of the YPT Voice. I would also like to increase readership of Mobility Matters, and find new ways of making these platforms interesting for all of our members. Last but not least, I would also like to strengthen YPT’s presence via underutilized social mediums/platforms, such as Twitter.

Professionally I have been in the transportation and operations fields since 2002. Additionally in some of my previous positions I worked in technology development for transit. This work experience combined with my current planning position at WMATA, which includes contributing to our department’s outward facing blog, Planitmetro.com, provides integral experience for the Communications position.

Lastly, I have volunteered to set up events for various alumni groups, and work events outside of the office, and I believe that my ability to facilitate and encourage camaraderie amongst YPT members is well within my abilities.

It would be a privilege to serve as Vice Chair for Communications for the coming year, and work together with the rest of the Board to help serve you better.

Aysha Rüya Cohen, Turkish Policy Center
(Also a candidate for Vice Chair for Programs)

I would like to serve on the YPT International Board of Directors as either the Vice Chair for Programs or the Vice Chair for Communications. I have been actively engaged in YPT and YIPPS in the Washington, DC metro area. I have thoroughly enjoyed the creativity and interdisciplinary nature of YPT’s events, including their Capital Bikeshare factory tour, the leadership seminar at the EU Commission and the TED-Style Talks. I look forward to the opportunity to help YPT with their program development and/or communications. I am fluent in Spanish and in conversational Turkish. I also have a background in transportation demand management, fundraising, event planning, community organizing, qualitative research, design and campaign management. I have experience with making 3-D models with SketchUp, InDesign, WordPress, Dreamweaver, HTML coding and forum management.

I have strong program development skills, as a transit symposium organizer, a bilingual presenter at rallies and on panels, a founding member of a residents’ council and as an event planner for cross disciplinary educational and social events. In these capacities, I have successfully fundraised for conferences, rallies, lectures and events for a wide variety of organizations and audiences. Specifically, in support of a low-income and largely Hispanic community, I managed requisitions for a $500,000 research grant and later co-wrote a grant proposal in support of a bus demonstration project. In addition, as a student of Dr. Scott Bollens’ work on the urban planning of conflict resolution, I became a founding member of the Olive Tree Initiative: Turkey-Armenia project, which created an expanding travel and dialogue program between Turkish and Armenian youth in Los Angeles where there was none, leveraging our contacts in the region. Lastly, I am a strong researcher and project manager, having worked as a Lab Manager hiring a team to collect and synthesize two years’ worth of data for the Mott Foundation. Most recently, I have prepared talking points, fact sheets, graphics and other communications for presentations to the State Department, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Congressional legislative staff.

In my current fellowship, I am creating an interactive Parklet for PARK(ing) Day, building a WordPress website, creating a forum for members and managing fundraising campaigns.

Vice Chair for Programs – 3 candidates

The Vice Chair for Programs is responsible for programs of national and international significance, such as events in conjunction with major conferences.  Programs include networking as well as professional development events. The Vice Chair for Programs coordinates on the organization of these events with the Vice Chair for Membership.

Jack Cebe, Alta Planning + Design
(Also a candidate for Deputy Chair)

My name is Jack Cebe, I am a planner and designer with Alta Planning + Design in Chicago, IL. I am submitting my nomination to be considered for the position of Vice Chair of Programs with the Young Professionals in Transportation.

Alta’s core mission is to create active communities where bicycling and walking are safe, healthy, fun, and normal daily activities. As a professional, I strive to do the same through my work with various people, communities and organizations. My background is Landscape Architecture and my work experience has been primary focused on pedestrian and bicycle transportation and recreation planning and design.

I’ve worked with Alta for over two years and lived in Chicago a little over a year. In this time, I’ve had the opportunity to work on various projects in Chicago, other US cities, with state departments of transportation and the national Green Lane Project (greenlaneproject.org) to promote and advance walking and bicycling through policy, planning and design. If selected to serve as Vice Chair for Programs of the Young Professionals in Transportation, I would use this experience to contribute to organizational discussions and efforts. I am fully capable of performing the duties associated with Vice Chair of Programs, and I believe I would be a great candidate for this position based on my work experience and strengths. For example, one of my significant strengths is making connections among people – this will help me in fulfilling the Vice Chair of Programs’ duty of coordinating activities among multiple people and organizations. I am also well connected with many national transportation-related organizations such as The League of American Bicyclists, The American Society of Landscape Architects, The Congress for New Urbanism, The Association of Bicycle and Pedestrian Professionals, The National Association of City Transportation Officials and The Green Lane Project, which I will be able to use in coordinating activities between The Young Professionals in Transportation and other groups.

I appreciate you considering me for the position of Vice Chair of Programs of the Young Professionals in Transportation. If selected to serve as Vice Chair of Programs, I will work to maintain seamless connection with the Organization’s members and add value to YPT membership. If you have any questions or comments now, or in the future, feel free to contact me at jackcebe@altaplanning.com or 864-918-3380.

Thanks!

-Jack

Aysha Rüya Cohen, Turkish Policy Center
(Also a candidate for Vice Chair for Communications)

I would like to serve on the YPT International Board of Directors as either the Vice Chair for Programs or the Vice Chair for Communications. I have been actively engaged in YPT and YIPPS in the Washington, DC metro area. I have thoroughly enjoyed the creativity and interdisciplinary nature of YPT’s events, including their Capital Bikeshare factory tour, the leadership seminar at the EU Commission and the TED-Style Talks. I look forward to the opportunity to help YPT with their program development and/or communications. I am fluent in Spanish and in conversational Turkish. I also have a background in transportation demand management, fundraising, event planning, community organizing, qualitative research, design and campaign management. I have experience with making 3-D models with SketchUp, InDesign, WordPress, Dreamweaver, HTML coding and forum management.

I have strong program development skills, as a transit symposium organizer, a bilingual presenter at rallies and on panels, a founding member of a residents’ council and as an event planner for cross disciplinary educational and social events. In these capacities, I have successfully fundraised for conferences, rallies, lectures and events for a wide variety of organizations and audiences. Specifically, in support of a low-income and largely Hispanic community, I managed requisitions for a $500,000 research grant and later co-wrote a grant proposal in support of a bus demonstration project. In addition, as a student of Dr. Scott Bollens’ work on the urban planning of conflict resolution, I became a founding member of the Olive Tree Initiative: Turkey-Armenia project, which created an expanding travel and dialogue program between Turkish and Armenian youth in Los Angeles where there was none, leveraging our contacts in the region. Lastly, I am a strong researcher and project manager, having worked as a Lab Manager hiring a team to collect and synthesize two years’ worth of data for the Mott Foundation. Most recently, I have prepared talking points, fact sheets, graphics and other communications for presentations to the State Department, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Congressional legislative staff.

In my current fellowship, I am creating an interactive Parklet for PARK(ing) Day, building a WordPress website, creating a forum for members and managing fundraising campaigns.

Brittney Kohler, American Society of Civil Engineers
(Also a candidate for Deputy Chair)

It has been my pleasure to serve on the national board as the Deputy Chair of YPT during this amazing year of working toward “Vision 2013”, which has taken YPT to the next level as an organization and will now allow us to go international. While we’ve had to really buckle down and get our administrative house in order, YPT has had a great year as we pushed to add new chapters and keep our current chapters growing.  We’ve made good investments internally that we’re going to really start to see the benefits from this year with our Customer Relations Management (CRM) system and use new tools like Square, but in the coming year, we’re going to need to focus on our external potential as well.

We’ve started to build our partnerships for national events and conferences which will be a great outlet to continue to collaborate and connect across so many industries and cities, but it would be great to expand our national programs to the conference and industry level.  If elected to take on our national programs, my goal for this upcoming year will be to develop better relationships and coordination with the other big national organizations (ITE, ITS, ASCE, APWA, WTS, APA, etc) and to better collaborate with the technology and learning community, like TED, that would place YPT at the center of the conversation on the future of our industry.  We need to continue to make YPT membership a natural complement to our professional affiliations, and just like Starbucks made itself the “third place” to go after home and work, we want YPT to be that group that is considered the next place you want to be. With my background working with Chaptes and as Deputy Chair, I believe this is a great way I could serve YPT strategically this year, and I hope you agree! 

Vice Chair for Membership – 1 candidate

The Vice Chair for Membership utilizes the resources of YPT to manage the membership records of all YPT members.  This includes ultimate responsibility for maintaining the CiviCRM membership platform, reconciling dues payouts to chapters on a quarterly basis, reconciling dues payments collected through Square or offline, and providing support to chapters in the use of the CiviCRM platform. The Vice Chair for Membership also works to provide maximum value for all members, increase the membership of YPT, increase the visibility of YPT, explore business development opportunities for YPT, and provide other services to meet the needs of the members of YPT.  Some experience with online membership systems, HTML, and websites is helpful.

Stephanie Dock, District (of Columbia) Department of Transportation

I am running for Vice Chair for Membership after having served for the past year as the Secretary/Vice Chair for Administration. YPT has grown immensely during the last 2 years and this past year the National Board of Directors has been taking steps to ensure that we are ready and able to support this continued growth. The most visible, largest change that has occurred this year was the launch our new membership/events/mailing database system. The Vice Chair for Membership is responsible for maintaining and managing much of that system. In my current role as Secretary I am already working in the system with the other board members.

I am a detail-oriented, enjoy working with data, and appreciate the challenge of learning a new system. I think these qualities make me a good person to continue our new system. I intend to use my experience learning the system to help create the YPT-specific manual for the system that is in development. This manual will help our chapter boards and future National board members, ensuring institutional memory as our boards change over each year and new chapters join.

I have faithfully discharged my responsibilities as Secretary, namely serving as the keeper of the records, recorder of minutes, and elections guru. If you got your ballot in a timely fashion, I have succeeded in the last role. In addition to taking careful notes at all Board meetings, I also helped to rewrite the bylaws and Chapter Affiliation Agreements for the chapters, which have made me intimately familiar with the structure for the organization and its operations.

I am proud to be a part of YPT and what the organization represents. YPT is an important venue for building connections between professionals earlier in our careers, while we are exploring our options and figuring out where we fit. The success of YPT, like any organization, requires individuals to step up and put time into it. I wish to continue do my part for the group by taking on the responsibilities of the Vice Chair for Membership.

Vice Chair for Chapter Development – 3 candidates

The Vice Chair for Chapter Development coordinates with leaders of the YPT chapters regarding YPT International’s policies, activities, and other issues that could affect the chapters. The Vice Chair assists in the development of new chapters, such as through outreach to Members in areas without chapters and helping new chapters with the formal steps for inclusion in YPT.

Candace Brakewood, Georgia Tech (incumbent)
(Also a candidate for Deputy Chair)

As the YPT International Vice Chair for Chapter Development,  I will work to foster the growth of YPT through the United States and abroad.  Over the past year, I have served on the national board as the Vice Chair for Chapter Development.  During this time, I assisted in the creation of nine (9) new regional chapters and have facilitated communication between YPT International and all of the regional chapters.

Prior to joining the board of YPT International, I was co-founder and Chair of the first YPT chapter outside of Washington (Boston) from 2010 to 2012.  As Chair of the Boston Chapter, I led the rapid growth of the group to over 600 friends and members, and I established a diverse range of educational and networking events – including a Distinguished Speaker Series featuring the Lieutenant Government of Massachusetts.

After two years as Boston Chair and one year on the board of YPT International, I would like to continue to apply my experience and knowledge of YPT as Vice Chair for Chapter Development.

Nikola Ivanov, Univ. of Maryland Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory

I am writing to express my interest and self-nominate for the Vice Chair for Chapter Development position on the YPT International Board of Directors.

Currently, I serve as the Program Manager at the Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Owner of the Cogent Consulting LLC, a transportation research consulting firm.

I have over ten years of experience in Intelligent Transportation Systems and technologies and during that time have been heavily involved in multiple transportation organizations.

Since 2007 I’ve participated on the Board of Directors of ITS Maryland, a state chapter of ITS America. Over the last six years I was a Board Member, Treasurer, Vice President, and President of this organization. Currently, I serve as the Past President in an advisory role to the chapter. In these various roles, I’ve provided executive guidance and advice in support of development of programs and policies aimed at promotion of coordinated deployment of technologies among public agencies, private companies, and academic institutions.

Since 2009 I have been a member of the TRB Regional Transportation Systems Management and Operations Committee with three years as the Chair of the Data for Operations Subcommittee. I am heavily involved in other facets of TRB as the Chair of the Operations and Preservation Group Young Member Council (YMC) and representative of this group on the TRB YMC.

I am passionate about providing an avenue for young thinkers and does to become more involved in transportation. Through my work with students and young professionals at the University of Maryland, and at the TRB YMC, I’ve had an opportunity to reach out to a wide audience of young professionals and provide opportunities for them to network, participate in mentor programs, and obtain scholarships and awards. As the ITS Maryland President I instituted a scholarship program that provided need-based assistance to undergraduate and graduate students in transportation across the state.

Recently, I was involved in providing guidance to a newly formed organization called Professional Association of Young Transportationists in Baltimore, MD. Considering that YPT does not have a Baltimore chapter, I think it is important to reach out to this enthusiastic group to support their growth and/or integration with YPT.

With my strong network of young professionals across the United States, involvement in several diverse organizations, and close work with state and local DOTs, as well as international ministries of transport, I am excited to have an opportunity to provide my knowledge and expertise in growing the YPT organization as the Vice Chair for Chapter Development.

Jude Groves, Diversified Transportation Ltd.

The transportation industry has afforded me many opportunities and benefits. For that, I enjoy giving back to the industry. Serving as the Vice Chair of Chapter Development on the Young People in Transportation International Board of Directors is one small way that I can give back to the industry that has treated me so well because it is an opportunity to build and maintain the industry for young people who come after me. Thus, I would like to serve YPT so as to use the resources of my leadership experiences toward the goal of continuing to build this industry for generations to come. I can bring several assets to accomplishing this goal for YPT.

Firstly, I bring professional leadership experience in the transportation industry. I am currently fortunate enough to serve Diversified Transportation Ltd. as their Director of the Health, Safety and Environment Department. In this role, not only have I been lucky to contribute to a program that keeps our employees safe, I have been even more fortunate to successfully mentor a strong team that has exceeded their expectations in meeting our health and safety challenges. The skills acquired from this experience could also be used to advance the industry in serving YPT.

Secondly, I can bring the experience of professional association involvement, which directly relates to the experience required to serve a first-class organization such as YPT. I am currently an YPT member. Also, I have been able to serve the Alberta Motor Transportation Association as the Northeastern Alberta Regional Director and on the Commercial Driver Training Standards Committee. I have also been able to aid the local TEDx group in establishing itself in the community as a member of the Organizing and Speaker Selection Committee. I have been able to cultivate this work into very successful TEDxFortMcMurray events. I have also served other professional associations with membership in the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals, the Canadian Association of Technical Accident Investigators and Reconstructionists, as well as several others.

Lastly, I know I can effectively serve YPT in this role based on formal recognition of my leadership and professional association track record. I have been formally recognized several times for being effective in these types of roles. I was recently named the Alberta Motor Transportation Association’s ‘Safety Person of the Year’. Within my own company I was recognized with admission into the R.B. Colborne Presidents’ Club of Excellence. This award is bestowed to one person in the company annually in recognition of their emulation of the founder’s core values. Our founder himself was a young pioneer in the transportation industry that built a large private transportation firm in Canada and created a culture that allows and grooms young professionals to flourish in this industry.

I know I can bring value to this group’s efforts by using my leadership and experience in professional associations. I look forward to serving my fellow young transportation colleagues on the YPT board and doing whatever is possible through the purview of this organization to ensure that the transportation industry continues to be the best industry in the world to be a part of.