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.
Managing Principal
Barbara Arens, PE, PTOE
Transportation Planning
Practice Lead
Terri Blackmore, PMP
Managing Partner
Adiele Nwankwo, Ph.D.
Analytics GIS Manager
Tina Roberts
Senior Human Resource Consultant
Tracey Bessellieu
Senior Program Manager
Andrea Foard, AICP, LEED AP
Senior Traffic & ITS Manager
Lauren Warren, PE, PTOE, PMP
Senior Engineering Manager
Victor Alao, PE
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
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
Victor Alao is an experienced program/construction manager with over 40 years in the management and delivery of all phases of transportation and environmental projects, from planning through construction. He has worked with several state and municipal DOTs as a seasoned roadway designer and construction manager to deliver complex transportation projects across the Midwest. He helps clients achieve their transportation project design objectives with phased structured review and proactive identification of flaws that may impede project implementation.
Victor partners with clients to develop creative solutions to design and construction projects to achieve context sensitive designs, sustainability, cost efficiencies, equity, and community buy-in. His strong leadership, management skills, and design expertise in finding innovative ways to resolve problems on projects, are valuable key points for stakeholders trying to avoid delays and cost overrun amid tight budgetary constraints. Victor is a licensed Professional Engineer in seven states and a Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
- Construction Management
- Design Engineering
- Advisory
- Program Management
Focus Areas
Andrea is an AICP-certified professional planner with over 15 years of progressive experience in program and project management; she is adept in the successful and timely delivery of transportation, transit, and environmental projects. Andrea is a recognized impact leader with the ability to move projects from planning to implementation and creative in combining engineering and planning skills on all levels of project development; from planning and public involvement to design and construction; to effectively coordinate and integrate various disciplines, manage project issues, and reconcile the needs of diverse set of stakeholders, ensuring that projects are completed on time and under budget, thereby advancing client’s objectives.
She is experienced in managing staff, scope, schedule, budgets, and subconsultants, as well as, contract administration, developing transit operations studies, NEPA coordination and documentation, project communications, and stakeholder and public engagement strategy development and implementation. Andrea is people-oriented and engaging; enthusiastic about teamwork and interaction in professional and volunteer environments.
- Planning
- Transit
- Environmental
- Transit Oriented Development (TOD)
• Transit Oriented Development (TOD)
Focus Areas
As an early leader and innovator in Transportation GIS, Tina helped develop the State of Michigan’s first GIS transportation application and managed one of the largest County GIS programs. She brings a wealth of knowledge from the public, quasi-public, academic, and private sectors; incorporating analytical methods on a multi-platform system to develop flexible alternatives that can be effectively evaluated and managed.
With over fifteen years of GIS experience as an insightful problem solver and systems manager, Tina has extensive functional and technical knowledge performing a variety of roles ranging from project management, planning and implementing GIS programs, database management and design, to online application development. Her expertise includes cadastral, transportation, land use, and utility GIS systems for both Enterprise and online applications. Tina provides a unique advantage to any project in understanding technical standards with the ability of incorporating a variety of data to effectively analyze, maintain, and produce high quality GIS products.
- Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- Transportation
- Program Management
- Data Analysis
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
Focus Areas
Terri Blackmore is a planning executive with more than 30 years of Transportation Planning experience. She led transportation planning organizations in Michigan and Colorado. Terri is a strategic thinker that has worked with numerous communities and key local, regional and federal partners to advance transportation planning and project implementation across the country.
She specializes in Federal transportation planning process and funding, including performance-based planning, project prioritization and selection as well as FHWA and FTA reviews. A hall mark of Terri’s career is the relentless desire to apply new innovations to the planning process, ensuring that projects are not only planned for, but actually implemented. She had performed and overseen several corridor studies, sub area areas studies and regional transportation plans.
- Project Management
- Strategic Planning
