Current Year Winners
2024 – 2025 WTS Puget Sound Award Winners
Each year, the WTS Puget Sound Chapter honors achievement in the transportation industry with several coveted awards. The awards for the 2024 – 2025 year will be presented at our annual Gala on April 3.
Tickets for the Gala are on sale, and are currently available through the event's Auctria platform.
Woman of the Year
Kris Overleese, P.E., KBA
As the President and CEO of KBA, Kris increased the company’s transportation portfolio through construction management roles on major projects like Federal Way Link and West Seattle Bridge repair. She leverages over 30 years of experience as a Public Works Director, City Engineer, and Capital Projects Manager—fields where women are a fraction of the workforce. An advocate for inclusion, Kris is actively involved in WTS, as a mentor and advisor to women pursuing careers in transportation. With her leadership, KBA has won multiple Excellence in Inclusion awards from the American Council of Engineering Companies. In 2024, KBA employees donated over $12,500 to the Washington State Opportunity Scholarship program, matched by the State to provide $25,000 in STEM and trade education scholarships. As their kids Ethan and Tessa are mostly launched, Kris and her teacher husband Erik now dote on the pups and kitty!
Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership
Gwen McCullough, Sound Transit
Gwen McCullough is Director of Capital Project Development at Sound Transit where she applies skills and learnings to improve equitable outcomes of capital projects. Notably, she led her former department in development of equity goals for projects and application of equity methodologies during capital project development. As a Change Agent, Gwen led efforts to highlight equity concerns for Board decision making. As a Talent Champion, she helps hiring teams recruit with an eye for implicit bias and consideration of women and BIPOC talent. Gwen has chaired and supported a variety of WTS Puget Sound board committees, including Gala this year. As former DEI Committee Chair, Gwen led efforts to rebrand and expand chapter DEI goalsetting and reporting. She also serves as Secretary for the Seattle Human Rights Commission. Gwen was born and raised in Buffalo, NY, and loves spending time with family, friends, hiking, watching ‘footie’ and singing karaoke.
Member of the Year
Kelly Cheeseman, WSP
Currently a National Pursuit Manager and Vice President for WSP USA, Kelly Cheeseman has been involved in WTS for more than 15 years. This includes leadership roles in the Seattle Chapter such as co-chairing the programs and gala committees and culminating in a two and a half-year term as Chapter President from 2019-2021. Even with the challenges of the pandemic, Kelly’s tenure provided for membership growth, engaging events, and year-to-year increases in scholarship awards. Since concluding her role as Past President in 2022, she has remained engaged in the Seattle Chapter and with WTSI, serving as Vice Chair of the Northwest Regional Council, co-presenting at Chapter Leader Training, and moderating a regional panel discussion on transportation resiliency. She continues to find WTS to be a source of inspiration, connection and learning.
Innovative Transportation Solution
Overlook Walk, City of Seattle
Seattle’s transformational Overlook Walk opened in October 2024, a crowning achievement in the decades-long Waterfront redevelopment. Located where the Alaskan Way Viaduct once stood, Overlook Walk is an iconic park space and pedestrian connection from Seattle’s downtown core to the waterfront. The women-led team addressed a 100-foot elevation change that puzzled engineers for over a century by building an accessible connection so that people can use an elevated pathway without crossing Alaskan Way to reach the waterfront. In addition to a children’s play area, ample seating throughout provides 360-degree views of downtown Seattle, the stadiums, Elliott Bay, the Olympic Mountains, and Mount Rainier. A concessionaire space for small local businesses is anticipated in 2025.
Employer of the Year
Jacobs
Jacobs delivers solutions for the world's most complex challenges. From aviation, rail and transit, highways and bridges, to ports and maritime, we keep future generations moving forward. We’re committed to gender equality, setting a goal to obtain a gender balance of 40:40:20 (40% male, 40% female, 20% of any gender) for our global operation. We are proud to be a WTS International Strategic Partner and WTS Seattle/Puget Sound Gold Level Sponsor. Our Women’s Network of over 5,000 provides training, mentorship, and growth opportunities for women at all levels. Our Puget Sound staff are actively involved in helping girls learn about jobs in transportation via hands-on activities with the local high schools and through our engagement in WTS’ TransportationYou program over the last decade. We hire 25+ interns each year, and attend SAME and National Society of Black Engineers conferences, making on-the-spot offers to students.
Accepting the Award: Kristie Casarez, Executive Director of Operations
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