Yvonne Lopez-Diaz

Yvonne Lopez-Diaz is a vice president at HNTB Corporation, an employee-owned infrastructure solutions firm serving public and private owners and contractors. With HNTB for more than 20 years, she currently serves as the firm’s National Workforce Strategist where she collaborates with leadership in shaping workforce requirements on major projects and pursuits. 

Prior to joining HNTB, Yvonne spent 16 years at Bayer Corporation, a world leader and innovator in the field of pharmaceutical and medical products, where she served in successive HR leadership roles that included Benefits and Compensation Analyst, Immigration and Foreign Service Personnel Specialist, and International HR Manager for the Caribbean region including Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Trinidad.

Yvonne holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management from the University of Phoenix.  She is also active in activities that benefit the community and the engineering industry.  She has served as a board member of the Central Florida Zoological Society, the Central Florida Community Foundation, and the Walt Disney World Dreamers & Doers Organization.  In addition, she has served as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, the Ronald McDonald House, Children’s Home Society, Adopt-a-Road, MathCounts, Seminole County Teach-In, and the Citrus Bowl Community Clean-up program.

For more than 15 years, Yvonne has been actively engaged with WTS International, where she currently serves as a Vice Chair on the WTS Foundation Board. She also serves as a member of the WTS Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Committee, and WTS Scholarship Committee.  For more than a decade, Yvonne chaired the WTS Central Florida Scholarship Committee and in 2016 she was named Chair of the WTS Greater NY Chapter Glass Ceiling Committee where she led the research and development of a study that benchmarked the leadership roles of women in the metropolitan New York and New Jersey regions and identify whether the glass ceiling is a barrier to their growth and success.  The results of this study identified potential policies or programs to support the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in transportation. 

Yvonne was featured in the “Hispanic Executive” Magazine, a leading international print publication profiling Latino leaders around the world.  In addition to focusing on growing women leaders, she has made it her priority to grow HNTB’s young professionals to assume future leadership positions within HNTB.  She was also named an ENO Center for Transportation’s “Top 10 Women to Watch in Transportation” for implementing innovative ideas and having a positive impact on the transportation industry. 

In recognition of her contributions at HNTB, Yvonne was nominated by her HNTB peers for the firm’s coveted “Living the Vision” award.  Recipients of this award are employees who have elegantly woven into their daily work the values articulated in the firm’s doctrine, philosophy and culture.

Odessa Phillip

Odessa L. Phillip, PE, President and CEO of Assedo Consulting, is a structural engineer, transportation planner, and public engagement professional with over 20 years of experience working with local, state, and federal public and private organizations. She has provided design, engineering, environmental management and public outreach and education services to clients in the on a wide range of infrastructure projects. Her work guides and educates stakeholders, appointed and elected government officials, and communities on the impacts of engineering, transportation, and construction projects.

Odessa secured a BSCE from Howard University (Structures/Transportation) and a Master of Engineering degree from the University of Maryland, College Park (Construction Project Management). 

In 2012, Ms. Phillip founded Assedo Consulting, LLC, a certified African-American, woman-owned business enterprise (MBE/WBE). Assedo Consulting provides planning and public outreach services for projects in the planning, design, and construction phases of development. A longtime supporter of her alma mater, Howard University, Ms. Phillip has worked as an adjunct professor in the Civil Engineering Department and sits on the Advisory Board for the Department. Her goal is to work diligently to introduce more women and minorities to the engineering field.

Kelly Kaysonepheth

Kelly Kaysonepheth is the Marketing Director and Associate Vice President at AZTEC Engineering Group, Inc., a subsidiary of TYPSA Group. She brings 15 years of experience leading marketing and proposal pursuits through client outreach and creative capture planning and has secured more than $350M in design work for the transportation industry to date.

A dedicated community volunteer, Kelly has served on the boards for several nonprofit organizations, including chapter president of WTS Metropolitan Phoenix (2018/19). The core of her community service has been concentrated on advancing women’s leadership development opportunities, STEM programming and mentoring first-generation and low-income students to reach their fullest potential. Kelly is recognized within the industry and the community. She has been nominated for the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce’s ATHENA Award, recognized as 40 Under 40 by the Phoenix Business-Journal and named to Engineering News-Record in its 2019 Top 20 Under 40 Outstanding Young Professionals in the Southwest Region.

Kelly is a graduate of Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ, where she graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. degree in English.

Emmanuella Myrthil

Emmanuella is the Chief Equity & Inclusion Officer · Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), and the former Diversity Division Director for HNTB's Southeast Division. In this role, she worked to engage, empower and elevate historically underutilized businesses seeking to do business with local and state government partners.

She utilizes creative and engaging strategies to impact inclusion of minority businesses and diversify small business participation in transportation projects throughout the Southeast. She creates connections with clients and stakeholders across cultural differences to address community and business needs.

Emmanuella began her transportation career more than 15 years ago with Georgia Department of Transportation where she worked as a Public Relations/Communications Specialist, a NEPA specialist and a Program Manager at the Transportation Management Center.  

Today Emmanuella works to change business as usual practices to remove barriers and expand access for minority businesses. She leverages both internal and external resources to ensure creative business solutions that achieve multiple advantages for all involved.

She is the Chair of ACEC Georgia’s Inclusion & Diversity Task Force and has facilitated dynamic learning experiences for ACEC GA's Future Leaders' Program.

Emmanuella holds a degree in Journalism from the State University of New York at New Paltz and is a two-time author and workshop creator of Journey of the Journal.

Avital Barnea

Avital Barnea is Senior Executive Officer for Multimodal Integrated Planning at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro). She leads a staff of 50 transportation professionals in complete streets & highways, active transportation, regional rail, goods movement, long-range planning, transportation demand management, and parking. Her previous experience includes roles at the federal, state, and local levels, including the governor-appointed position of Deputy Secretary for Transportation Planning at the California State Transportation Agency. Avital received a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography, both from the University of Minnesota. She is an active WTS member, currently serving on the WTS Foundation Board of Directors and previously serving as President of the WTS Washington, DC Chapter.

Christine Skinner

Christi Skinner served as Senior Vice President and the Transportation Client Development Director for HDR, an ENR Top 5 design firm specializing in engineering, architecture, environmental and construction services.

Based out of Bellevue, WA, she has 30 years of experience in the A/E/C industry in all phases of project work, from project identification and pursuit through execution. Christi helps set the vision for the transportation practice, creates and applies programs and processes across all geographies and provides tactical leadership of the team of individuals focused on securing the firm’s most complex, game-changing projects across all modes of transportation.

Christi is a long-time member of WTS and this is her second term on the WTS Foundation board where she serves as the WTSF Treasurer.