leadership
Our
Our Leadership
Our innovative and experienced practice leaders bring unique public and private sector insights and fresh ideas to help deliver innovative infrastructure solutions.
Director, Planning
Brad Strader, AICP
Director, Traffic Operations & ITS
Paul Slone, PE, PTOE
Managing Principal
Barbara Arens, PE, PTOE
Managing Partner
Adiele Nwankwo, Ph.D.
Senior Human Resource Consultant
Tracey Bessellieu
Director, Traffic Operations & ITS
Lauren Warren, PE, PTOE, PMP
Senior Director, Innovative Transportation Solutions
Betty Smoot-Madison
Analytics GIS Manager
Tina Roberts
Adiele is a strategic thought leader and a national program management advisor, with decades of public and private sector experience in infrastructure planning, project development and management services. He is actively engaged in several projects involving organizational, management and performance assessments of transportation departments and infrastructure delivery programs. He serves as coach and mentor to infrastructure executives and partners with clients to develop and implement Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.
Adiele has a reputation as the client’s advocate, with a focus on overcoming barriers to ensure effective and efficient program outcomes. A committed servant-leader, he directed a global infrastructure firm’s regional business operation of 16 states and 26 offices. Adiele is engaged in several volunteer and non-profit initiatives, ranging from chairing a mayoral transportation transition team to working with key local officials, business leaders and citizens to develop innovative transportation funding options to leading different initiatives to enhance people and infrastructure capacity building in Africa.
- Strategic Planning
- Program Management
- Organizational and Performance Management
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Focus Areas
During Brad’s 40 years of experience, he has crafted Comprehensive Plans, district plans, corridor studies, and a wide variety of multi-modal transportation projects. Serving as an ongoing mobility advisor to several cities and agencies, he helped usher projects from concepts, through the public engagement and construction process, to create vibrant places and streets. He has been retained by over 95% of his clients for additional projects.
Brad is a frequent lecturer at state, regional and national conferences and webinars. He has also been a co-author or editor for several national best practice publications for the American Planning Association, Transportation Research Board and Institute of Transportation Engineers.
- Multi-Modal Transportation Planning
- Land Use Planning and Zoning
- Community Engagement
- Downtown Revitalization
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Focus Areas
With more than 20 years of public sector service, Betty Smoot-Madison is a seasoned planning and transportation leader recognized for driving transformative outcomes in complex urban environments. Her career spans 17 years in planning, nearly 15 years in transportation, and eight years in senior leadership roles, where she has guided medium and large organizations through strategic growth, mobility innovation, and organizational change.
Betty’s expertise sits at the intersection of community planning, urban mobility, and transportation systems. She has led initiatives in urban and multimodal planning, parking and curb management, deployment of automated enforcement systems, safety-focused programming and strategic project delivery—consistently aligning infrastructure investments with community needs and long-term organizational visions. Her work is distinguished by a strong ability to secure and manage federal grants, translate policy into implementation, and deliver results in politically and operationally complex environments.
- Transportation Planning
- Road Safety Programming
- Grants/Funding Strategies
- Project and Program Delivery
- Organizational Transformation
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Focus Areas
Lauren Warren is a results-driven project and engineering manager with demonstrated success in building teams that deliver exceptional services for clients. Lauren’s project experience covers all facets of transportation planning, operations and engineering including simulation modeling, calibration and signal optimization, interchange studies, traffic impact studies, traffic signal and ADA design, safety studies/audits, non-motorized planning and design, and work zone mobility/maintenance of traffic.
Lauren also holds certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP) enhancing her engineering, planning, and project management skillset. She serves as Secretary on the Board for the WTS Michigan Chapter and is a graduate of the WTS International Mid-Career Signature Leadership Program. Lauren has a passion for community service and enjoys giving of her time and talents.
- Traffic Planning
- Traffic Operations
- Safety
- Signal Design
• Safety • Signal Design
Focus Areas
With 31 years of dedicated experience in the Southeast, Paul is a subject matter expert in traffic operations. He initiated his career in the public sector, contributing significantly to the establishment of a statewide program in Kentucky for coordinated signal systems, with notable installations in Louisville and Lexington. Paul excels in on-street operations, specializing in the analysis, optimization, and programming of traffic signals.
His extensive background spans nine states, encompassing corridor studies, area-wide transportation studies, traffic forecasts, design alternatives analysis, traffic impact studies, innovative intersection design, roundabout design and analysis, specification writing and standard drawings, as well as operational and safety improvement projects. He is familiar with the practices and policies of several state departments of transportation, metropolitan planning organization (MPO) operations, and transportation funding. Paul's wealth of experience uniquely positions him to tackle diverse engineering challenges, further solidifying our ability to deliver innovation and comprehensive expertise.
- Traffic Operations
- Innovative Intersection Design
- Operational & Safety Improvement Projects
- ITS Design and Specifications
• Transit Oriented Development (TOD)
Focus Areas
Tina Roberts is a proven industry-leading systems manager and GIS innovator, with 20 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. Tina is recognized as an insightful problem solver and effective communicator successfully implementing advanced GIS applications that have updated, modernized, and streamlined workflows for a variety of government agencies including local, county, regional, and transit organizations. Incorporating multiple data platforms into a unified system as the principal contributor for the southeast Michigan region and statewide transportation GIS data model. Tina promotes ESRI Best Practice standards in application initiatives that advance business culture standards by developing flexible alternatives based on a wide scope of end-user needs and desired products.
- GIS Data Management
- Application Integration
- Asset Management
- Data Analytics
Focus Areas
Tracey Bessellieu is a strategic business professional partnering with executive leaders to develop human capital strategies, exceptionally self-driven and decisive professional who provides strategic leadership and consultation for human capital and business challenges that impact organizations culture and performance.
She has held senior roles managing human resources teams around the world, resulting in strong business outcomes. She is a certified workplace assessment provider; coaching and partnering with executive professionals who lead local, national, and global organizations in developing personal action plans and common goals for their organizations. Tracey’s underpinning philosophy, that is applied to all business solutions, is to consider the implications of the future world of work and its intersectionality with valuing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- Executive Coaching
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Talent Management Strategy
- Organizational Development
