ITS America, the USA’s leading advocate for the technological modernization of the country’s transportation systems, has announced a new public policy-focused mission, and has also realigned its professional leadership team.
The move follows an extensive re-visioning process across the ITS America membership, which represent interests and expertise from private companies, leading public research and academic institutions, as well as state and city DOT leaders.
Consistent with this new mission, ITS America recently released a public policy roadmap for 2017, The Road Ahead – The Next Generation of Mobility, which is being widely shared across the new administration and congress.
Among its top priorities, the plan emphasizes support for new and long-term funding and financing for technology-driven transportation infrastructure; tax reform to restore solvency to the Highway Trust Fund; and funding and financing in President Trump’s call to increase investments in vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) mobility and safety applications.
“We have rallied together behind this public policy mission at a critical time, when the rubber is literally hitting the road for intelligent transportation,” said ITS America President and CEO Regina Hopper (right).
“Our collective focus on public-private collaboration to advance and accelerate the deployment of intelligent transportation solutions at scale, is a unifying rallying cry of broad importance to the nation.”
To execute the mission, ITS America has announced a new senior leadership team:
• Steve Bayless – VP of regulatory affairs and public policy. A veteran of the organization’s technical programs group, and having been instrumental in fashioning the arguments around key regulatory filings, he has been promoted to lead these efforts;
• Jason Goldman – VP of external affairs and stakeholder engagement. New to ITSA, he will focus on building coalitions and reaching out to third party stakeholders to advance the public policy agenda;
• Ron Thaniel – VP of legislative affairs. Hired to lead ITSA’s Capitol Hill efforts, he is a nationally recognized urban transportation expert who previously served as New York’s deputy transportation secretary and held leadership positions at NACTO and the US Conference of Mayors;
• Jeff Davis – SVP of membership and business development. Formerly of Homeland Security Solutions, he will focus on expanding business opportunities with federal departments and agencies, as well as recruiting and retaining a diverse membership;
• Mike Land – VP of programs. He will manage government contract work and expand these efforts through various government agencies involved with transportation technology;
• Dan Ronan – VP of strategic communications. A former award-winning journalist for CNN, he will serve as chief spokesperson for advocacy positions, creating and executing strategic content across traditional, social and digital media.
Hopper commented, “I am incredibly proud of the leadership team we have assembled. As leaders in Washington and across the country make critical decisions about updating our nation’s infrastructure, investing in smart communities, and setting policies relating to connected vehicles, we will be a voice of expertise and experience to advance US leadership in this critical field, and unlock all the promise intelligent transportation holds for our citizens and our economy.”
