Past Award Winners
Each year, the WTS Puget Sound Chapter honors achievement in the transportation industry with several coveted awards. The awards for the 2022 – 2023 year were presented at our annual Gala in March 2023.
2022 – 2023 WTS Puget Sound Award Winners
Woman of the Year
Heather Marx, City of Seattle
This category honors an outstanding woman who is a leader and a role model in the transportation industry.
Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership
Annya Pintak, City of Seattle
The Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award recognizes either an organization(s) or individual(s) that have facilitated professional opportunities for women and minorities in transportation and contributed significantly to promoting diversity, inclusion, and multi-cultural awareness.
Member of the Year
Hailey Brey, Kimley-Horn (formerly with Parametrix)
This award is our opportunity to acknowledge a WTS member who has made extraordinary contributions to the success of the Puget Sound chapter.
Innovative Transportation Solution
Free Youth Transit Pass Launch Team, King County Metro
The Innovative Transportation Solution award honors a local innovative transportation project led by a woman or team of women.
Employer of the Year
Toole Design Group
This award is designed to honor an organization (company, non-profit, association, or government agency) for their support of the goals and purpose of WTS, such as recruiting, retaining, and advancing women in the transportation industry.
2021 – 2022 WTS Puget Sound Award Winners
Woman of the Year
Claudia Balducci, King County Council Chair
This category honors an outstanding woman who is a leader and a role model in the transportation industry.
Member of the Year
Grace Carlson, King County Metro
This award is our opportunity to acknowledge a WTS member who has made extraordinary contributions to the success of the Puget Sound chapter.
Honorable Ray LaHood Award
Rob Berman, HDR
The Ray LaHood Award was created to recognize men who are not only leaders in transportation, but who have also actively led by example in seeking opportunities to advance the WTS mission and have made outstanding contributions toward the advancement of women and minorities.
Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership
Stephanie Caldwell, Absher Construction
The Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award recognizes either an organization(s) or individual(s) that have facilitated professional opportunities for women and minorities in transportation and contributed significantly to promoting diversity, inclusion, and multi-cultural awareness.
Innovative Transportation Solution
Operations & Maintenance Facility East, Sound Transit and Hensel Phelps
The Innovative Transportation Solution award honors a local innovative transportation project led by a woman or team of women.
Employer of the Year
Transpo Group
This award is designed to honor an organization (company, non-profit, association, or government agency) for their support of the goals and purpose of WTS, such as recruiting, retaining, and advancing women in the transportation industry.
2020 – 2021 WTS Puget Sound Chapter Award Winners
Employer of the Year (Small)
Maul Foster & Alongi
Maul Foster & Alongi (MFA) is an employee-owned, 54% woman-led company that supports our community with dedication, integrity, inclusivity, respect, and excellence. We are proud to work among many incredible women in government, nonprofit, and private sectors who are changing the industry. MFA has 138 employees across eight offices located in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. The company includes 54% women, 46% men, and 6% people of color, as well as members of the LGBTQ community.
MFA, small yet mighty, has the position to make an impact throughout our expanding reach. We take this responsibility seriously and spare no effort to further inclusivity and innovation within our organization and every community in which we hold a presence. Women across the world have proven the importance of equal access and opportunity – MFA will continue to amplify their message. MFA is active in the WTS Puget Sound Chapter and a proud Gold Sponsor.
Employer of the Year (Large)
GeoEngineers
GeoEngineers is a unique employee-owned consulting firm with a decentralized structure that gives employees a greater voice in the firm’s direction and opportunities to lead projects/initiatives. Nearly 40 percent of GeoEngineers’ managers are women. Over the past 40 years, women have utilized GeoEngineers’ unique structure and emphasis on diverse collaboration to carve out successful careers in the transportation industry. We look to these women for leadership and better ways to do business. In 2020, GeoEngineers renewed their dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training, with firm leadership participating in immersive DEI training.
Supporting women in transportation is a core part of GeoEngineers’ strategic diversification goals. GeoEngineers is active in WTS Puget Sound and chapters across the country. GeoEngineers encourages staff—both women and men--to become active members of their local WTS Chapter, is an annual sponsor of the Puget Sound’s WTS Awards and Scholarship Gala, financially supports scholarships each year and sponsors additional local chapter events and scholarships across the country.
Woman of the Year
Wendy Taylor
Wendy Taylor is a recognized industry leader with over 30 years of project management, transportation planning, and design experience on a wide range of projects. Throughout her 20+ year career with HNTB, Wendy has been a strong advocate for innovation and progress. Her experience includes having provided leadership on the I-405 Megaprogram for the past 19 years, helping WSDOT deliver over $4B of funded projects ahead of schedule and under budget toward completion of their $20B multimodal multiagency transportation vision. In addition to a trusted leader and lauded engineering professional, Wendy is a visible role model, mentor, and inspiration for young women within the transportation industry. Her involvement in promoting WTS’s causes includes having supported WTS’s Transportation You youth program, serving on the organization’s Executive Advisory Board and as a Scholarship Committee Chair. Wendy strives to bring more women and people of color into the workforce through tangible initiatives and is a champion for diversity.
Member of the Year
Stephanie Forman, PE
As an active WTS board member for 10+ years, Stephanie Forman has demonstrated her commitment to advancing and promoting WTS as the industry’s leading professional organization. Throughout her career she has actively looked for opportunities to highlight WTS and the development opportunities it offers. Stephanie rose to the role of President in 2017-2018, managing the largest board the Puget Sound WTS Chapter has seen (more than 60 board members). She subsequently also helped the chapter organize and host its largest-ever Awards and Scholarships Gala with more than 600 attendees, raising nearly $40,000 in scholarship funds. Now as CEO of her own W/DBE transportation engineering firm, Stephanie continues to serve as a trusted advisor to the current WTS Board and has been instrumental in devising different ways to engage professionals from diverse perspectives and backgrounds in WTS.
Innovative Transportation Solution Award (Small Project)
Renton Kent Auburn Area Mobility Project
The Renton Kent Auburn Area Mobility Project (RKAAMP) is an innovative transit service and capital project that delivered an upgraded, integrated mobility network to 26,000 daily transit riders and serving cities and communities with more than 175,000 people. This transit project set a new and higher standard of practice for developing transit with and for underrepresented communities including black, indigenous and people of color.
The planning and engagement process of the RKAAMP began in early 2019, with service changes implemented in September 2020. The project redesigned transit to better meet community needs in areas where the network lacked updates, despite substantial growth, demographic changes, and changes in travel patterns. This project is the first major service redesign in the area in over 15 years. This project embodies Metro and King County’s commitment to equity, and underscores how transit can better serve and include communities through a focus on increasing transit investments.
Innovative Transportation Solution of the Year (Large Project)
Washington State Ferries/Washington State Department of Transportation Mukilteo Multimodal Ferry Terminal
Washington State Ferries (WSF) partnered with multiple stakeholders, including seven local tribes, to build their first new ferry terminal in 40 years.
The project site formerly housed an abandoned fueling pier and has now been transformed into a passenger building that will be LEED Gold-certified, built in the form of a Coast Salish longhouse, honoring tribes whose ancestors gathered there in 1855 to sign the Point Elliott Treaty with the US government. WSF designed the passenger building complete with tribal cultural motifs created by tribal master carvers that included their Lushootseed language. The motifs, plants, and interpretive boards all strive to tell of the tribes’ living history.
The new ferry terminal serves the state’s busiest route for drive-on passengers, carrying 2.3M vehicles and 4.1M riders annually. It’s the major transportation corridor connecting Whidbey Island to the Seattle-Everett metro areas. The new terminal improves safety by meeting current seismic standards, improves transit connections and passenger safety while streamlining passenger loading, and opens the Mukilteo waterfront up to residents.
Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership
Justin Clark
Justin Clark is a project manager and bridge designer with WSP whose courage this past year has helped opened the door for meaningful conversations in the transportation industry regarding systemic racism. The 2020 nationwide protests related to the tragic death of George Floyd spurred many to action. For Justin, he felt moved to use his professional platform to enlighten and educate many of his peers and colleagues on how systemic racism has impacted his own life. In an eloquent and deeply personal six-minute video, Justin described these impacts and why he takes a day off work to join the June 12th national day of protests. That video has now been viewed over 2,000 times. Justin is also actively engaged in advancing our transportation profession through Leadership Tomorrow, the American Public Works Association (APWA), the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO), and serving on the Seattle Design Commission.
Honorable Ray LaHood Award (Man of the Year)
Roger Millar
Secretary Roger Millar has led the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) since February 2016. Secretary Millar is constantly striving to shape the agency into one that reflects the communities WSDOT serves. Soon after joining WSDOT, Secretary Millar made inclusion and workforce development two of the agency’s top three goals. He is a fierce advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion and has developed an inclusive culture within WSDOT by developing policies and focusing resources to ensure that every voice is heard and represented. His efforts have included appointing women to multiple key leadership positions, establishing Diversity Advisory Groups throughout the agency, and spearheading Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (WASHTO) and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) resolutions focused on dismantling systemic racism. Through these and other efforts, Secretary Millar’s influence on promoting women in the workforce and amplifying the importance of diversity and inclusion has extended far beyond WSDOT.
2019 – 2020 WTS Puget Sound Chapter Award Winners
2018 – 2019 WTS Puget Sound Chapter Award Winners
- Employer of the Year: EnviroIssues
- Woman of the Year: Lorelei Williams, Seattle DOT
- Member of the Year: Geri Poor, Port of Seattle
- Innovative Transportation Solutions (Large): Community Transit Swift Green Line, Community Transit, Manager of Strategic Planning and Grants
- Innovative Transportation Solutions (Small): Washington State Ferries 2040 Long Range Plan, Washington State DOT
- Hon. Ray LaHood Award (man of the year): Rob Gannon, King County Metro
- Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award: Dawn McIntosh, Washington State DOT
2017 – 2018 WTS Puget Sound Chapter Award Winners
- Employer of the Year (Small Organization): Heffron Transportation
- Employer of the Year (Large Organization): Fehr & Peers
- Woman of the Year: Linea Laird, Washington State DOT
- Member of the Year: Amy Scarton, Washington State DOT - Ferries
- Innovative Transportation Solutions: Elliott Bay Seawall Project
- Hon. Ray LaHood Award (man of the year): Harold Taniguchi, King County DOT
- Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award: Lindsay Pulsifer, Port of Seattle
2016 – 2017 WTS Puget Sound Chapter Award Winners
- Employer of the Year (Small Organization): PRR
- Employer of the Year (Large Organization): Parametrix
- Woman of the Year: Representative Judy Clibborn
- Member of the Year: Kerry Pihlstrom, Sound Transit
- Innovative Transportation Solutions: ST3/Karen Kitsis (Sound Transit)
- Hon. Ray LaHood Award (man of the year): Steve Gorcester, Retired
- Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award: Anita Whitfield, King County Metro
2015 – 2016 WTS Puget Sound Chapter Award Winners
- Employer of the Year (Small Organization): Osborne Consulting Inc.
- Employer of the Year (Large Organization): Jacobs
- Woman of the Year: Julie Meredith, Washington State DOT
- Member of the Year: Elizabeth Faulkner, EnviroIssues
- Innovative Transportation Solutions: Georgetown Festival Street/Therese Casper (SDOT)
- Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award: Regina Glenn, Pacific Communications Consultants, Inc.
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Joni Earl, Sound Transit
2014 – 2015 WTS Puget Sound Chapter Award Winners
- Employer of the Year: CH2M Hill
- Woman of the Year: Rita Brogan, PRR
- Member of the Year: Diana Giraldo, HNTB
- Innovative Transportation Solutions: SR 530 Emergency Roadway Reconstruction
2013 – 2014 WTS Puget Sound Chapter Award Winners
- Employer of the Year (Small Organization): Planning and Management Services, Inc.
- Employer of the Year (Large Organization): Port of Seattle
- Woman of the Year: Kristen A. Betty, KBA, Inc.
- Member of the Year: Claudia Hirschey, Transportation Consulting Services
- Innovative Transportation Solutions: I-5 Skagit River Bridge Replacement Team (WSDOT, Max J Kuney, Parsons Brinckerhoff)
- Innovative Transportation Solutions Runner-Up: Transit Information Kiosk, Seattle DOT and King County Metro