In December of 2004 Kevin S. Corbett accepted the position of Vice president, Corporate Development at DMJM+HARRIS, a subsidiary of AECOM, one of the world’s premier transportation and infrastructure company. Mr. Corbett is responsible for the strategic planning and redevelopment of the global marine and freight business for DMJM+HARRIS and the other AECOM subsidiaries.
Mr. Corbett also serves on a number of boards, including Empire State Development Corporation, the Convention Center Development Corporation, New York Power Authority Power Allocation Board, Regional Plan Association, and the Maritime Association of the Port of New York & New Jersey.
Before joining AECOM, Mr. Corbett had been the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC), having been appointed to this position in September of 1999. He was also appointed Executive Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development, the state agency responsible for economic development throughout the State of New York. As Chief Operating Officer and Executive Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Corbett was responsible for the day to day operations of the entire spectrum of New York State’s economic development programs and projects.
Previously, Mr. Corbett served as the Senior Vice President for Transportation and Infrastructure for ESDC where he was responsible for transportation policy and key infrastructure projects statewide. Formerly, he was the Executive Director for Port Authority Affairs at ESDC. In this position, Mr. Corbett oversaw the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on behalf of ESDC on all matters confronting the bi-state agency including port preservation, development and competitiveness.
Prior to ESDC, Mr. Corbett was a fellow at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Before his fellowship, Mr. Corbett spent 17 years in the maritime industry at Wilhelmsen Lines, Norway’s largest shipping line. During this period, Mr. Corbett spent six years in Asia, oversaw operations in Sub-Sahara Africa, and served as Chairman of the American-West Africa Freight Conference and Secretary of the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey.
Mr Corbett earned his undergraduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and has a farm in Mendham, NJ.
John C. Falcocchio is co-founder of Urbitran Associates, Inc., a leading national consulting engineering firm, and currently serves as Chairman of the Board. His expertise in transportation results from his many years as a professor and researcher, and as a planning and transportation engineering consultant. His focus has been on the development, performance evaluation and practice-driven implementation strategies of innovative solutions to challenging urban transportation problems.
Dr. Falcocchio has participated and assumed leadership roles in a number of citywide committees and task forces, including NYC Community Planning Board 6 in Queens, a Midtown Task Force on Transportation, and various “kitchen cabinets” for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council and the New York City Department of Transportation. He has facilitated and catalyzed the dialogue between the academic community and the federal, state, and city agencies by providing leadership and support to major inter-institutional consortia of universities and research institutions. Past positions include Chairman of the Board of the Federal Region 2 Urban Transportation Research Consortium (UTRC), Principal Investigator for the Polytechnic subcontract of the National Science Foundation sponsored Institute of Civil Infrastructure Systems (ICIS), and Board Member of the New York State DOT Transportation Infrastructure Research Consortium (TIRC).
Ronald Hartman is Senior Vice President of Veolia Transportation North America with over 20 years of management experience at the highest level of public and private transportation organizations. In his current role, Mr. Hartman is responsible for Veolia's rail division in the United States including operations and business development. He is also working on a special project with Veolia's Paris headquarters, introducing American-style on-demand services in France. Prior to this, he served as Executive Vice President of Yellow Transportation, with responsibilities in operations, business development and administrative functions. Yellow was purchased by Veolia in 2001. In the late 1990s, he was the Vice President for Planning and Development of Amtrak, a $2.5 billion corporation, where he successfully negotiated numerous service contracts.
Mr. Hartman started his transit career with the American Public Transit Association where he developed policy, legislative proposals, and technical assistance to advocate the interests of the public transit community. For more than a decade, he served as Deputy Administrator and then General Manager of Maryland's Mass Transit Administration. He has been awarded the Most Outstanding Public Agency of 1992 by an industry association and given the US Department of Transportation's Outstanding Service Award. His leadership abilities have been noted in Tom Peter's book, "Thriving on Chaos." He is a member of Leadership Washington's Class of 2003, an organization of senior executives with top companies and non-profit organizations in the national capital region.
Susan Kupferman is President of MTA Bridges and Tunnels, one of the largest toll agencies in the world. She previously served as a member of the MTA Board and held executive positions at MTA Headquarters, most recently Chief Operating Officer.
Ms. Kupferman was Co-Director of the NYU Wagner Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management when she was appointed by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in 2002 as Director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Operations. She also previously served as Assistant Secretary for Transportation under Governor Mario M. Cuomo and was part of the management team at the New York State Thruway Authority.
Ms. Kupferman was recently named “Woman of the Year” by the Greater New York Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar. She holds a Master of Arts as well as a Bachelor of Arts from The State University of New York at Albany. Ms. Kupferman currently serves on the Board of the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Robert Paaswell, Ph.D. currently serves as Director of the federally supported University Transportation Research Center at the City College of New York. A consortium of 12 major U.S. academic institutions, the Center plays a significant role in the region and nationally, conducting research and projects on surface transportation, carrying out training and educational programs and actively disseminating the results of its work. Dr. Paaswell has been named Director of the City University Institute for Urban Systems, a major University-wide initiative to examine the intersection of new technology, changing institutional structure and innovative finance on the provision of infrastructure in the 21st century. He also serves as a Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering at CCNY.
Dr. Paaswell is extremely active in public transportation issues and consulting. He has reported on governance structures for U.S. transit organizations, public/private issues in New York and Chicago, and on labor union/management issues. Most recently he served as an advisor to the Israeli government concerning restructuring of their bus companies, and issues of competition. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Transit Standards Consortium - a new professional group addressing the problems of integration of high technology into public transit systems. Previously he served as Executive Director (CEO) of the Chicago Transit Authority, the nation's second largest transit company.
Anthony Perl joined Simon Fraser University in 2005 as Professor of Urban Studies and Director of the Urban Studies Program. He is also cross appointed as Professor of Political Science. Before that he worked at the City University of New York, the University of Calgary and Universite Lumiere in Lyon, France. He received an undergraduate honors degree in Government from Harvard University, an MA specializing in Public Administration and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
His research crosses disciplinary and national boundaries to explore the policy decisions that affect transportation system performance. He has published in scholarly journals such as Energy Policy, Transportation Research, Transportation Quarterly, World Transport Policy and Practice, Journal of Air Transport Management, Transportation Research Record, Journal of Public Policy, Canadian Public Policy, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of Urban Technology, Canadian Journal of Political Science and Scientific American. His work been awarded prizes for outstanding papers presented at the World Conference on Transport Research and the Canadian Transportation Research Forum.
He has also produced four books. The Politics of Improving Urban Air Quality, which he co-edited and co-authored was published in 1999 by Edward Elgar, U.K. New Departures: Rethinking Rail Passenger Policy in the Twenty-First Century was published by the University Press of Kentucky in 2002. In 2003, the University of British Columbia Press released The Integrity Gap: Canada’s Environmental Policy and Institutions, co-authored and co-edited by Perl. His latest co-authored book, Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight Without Oil, is published by Earthscan and can be ordered through www.transportrevolutions.info.
Perl has advised governments in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, and the United States on transportation and environmental research and policy development. On April 21, 2008, Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon appointed Perl to the Board of VIA Rail, Canada’s national passenger railway. He also chairs the committee on Intercity Rail Passenger Systems of the U.S. Transportation Research Board, a division of the National Research Council. He has served on the Selection Committee of Transport Canada’s Urban Transportation Showcase Program.
Perl is currently Vice-Chair of Canada’s Centre for Sustainable Transportation.
Howard Permut is MTA Metro North Senior Vice President of Planning, Procurement and Business Development. His areas of responsibility include strategic planning, operations and service planning, capital planning and programming, marketing, long-range planning studies (MIS, DEIS), organizational development, project management, inter-agency negotiations, business development, procurement and management of storerooms, bus and ferry operations.
Prior to this, he worked at the Northeastern Illinois RTA during its formative years and the CTA. He is also a visiting scholar at New York University and has worked for a number of major transit agencies in London, Santo Domingo, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He has served on various TCRP Research and APTA panels. He has taught the NTI Senior Leadership Course and has lectured at NYU, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, CUNY and Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute
Henry L. Peyrebrune, P.E. is working on a project for the New York State Assembly, Committee of Science and Technology on the current practice of implementing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) in New York and opportunities and barriers for widespread implementation. Dr. Peyrebrune was the First Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation. Since his retirement after a thirty-three year career with the Department, Dr. Peyrebrune has completed projects for the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), Inc. to document the best practices regarding participation in Transportation Management Centers, sharing arrangements for Fiber Optics Systems and Pedestrian and Bicycle accommodation in heavily congested areas. His international consulting experience includes acting as a Special Advisor to the Minister of Communications of Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Peyrebrune served as Chairman of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Transportation Planning, Programming and Evaluation for six years, and also served as Policy Coordinator for the New York State Department of Transportation's (NYSDOT) Intelligent Vehicle Highway System (renamed the Intelligent Transportation Systems) Program. Dr. Peyrebrune received the Renaissance Man of the Year Award from the Advisory Program for Women and the John K. Mladinov Award from NYSDOT. He is currently providing staff assistance to the National Association of City Transportation Officials, Inc. and the Center for Transportation Policy and Management.
Samuel I. Schwartz, also known as Gridlock Sam, has been a transportation professional for four decades counting a three-year stint as a New York City cab driver. He started out as a physicist receiving a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Brooklyn College. He went on to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and received a Master of Science in Civil Engineering with a focus on transportation systems.
In 1971, Mr. Schwartz started his engineering career as a junior engineer with the New York City Department of Traffic. In 1980, Mr. Schwartz became the chief architect of the plan to run the city during a full transit strike of subways, buses and rail. The program was so successful during the eleven-day stoppage, that many of Mr. Schwartz’s plans were adopted post-strike. It was during the transit strike of 1980 that Mr. Schwartz coined the term ‘gridlock.’
In 1982, he was appointed New York City Traffic Commissioner, serving under the guidance of then Mayor Ed Kotch. His responsibilities included traffic engineering, enforcement operations and planning. In 1986, Mr. Schwartz was promoted to Chief Engineer and First Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation. During this time, Mr. Schwartz became known as the man who saved the Williamsburg Bridge. The bridge, a rail and highway crossing between Brooklyn and Manhattan, was crumbling and had to be shut due to corrosion for three months to repair dangerous conditions.
Mr. Schwartz left city government in 1990 and worked for five years as a Senior Vice President at Hayden Wegman Consulting Engineers. At the same time, he began to write the Gridlock Sam column in the New York Daily News.
In 1995 Mr. Schwartz founded his own firm which evolved over the years into Sam Schwartz Engineering, (SSE). He currently serves as President and CEO of SSE, a multi-disciplinary consulting firm specializing in traffic and transportation engineering.
Public officials frequently call on Mr. Schwartz for his sage advice. He was invited to the Whitehouse to discuss the 511 program with Vice President Al Gore. During Mayor Bloomberg’s first run for office, Sam was his transportation advisor. Mr. Schwartz is also currently leading the forensic teams investigating the I35 bridge collapse in Minnesota.
Mr. Schwartz is a Visiting Scholar at the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University and a member of the New York Transportation Journal Editorial Board. For 25 years he has also been an adjunct professor at Cooper Union and Long Island University. He is a volunteer teacher at New York City High Schools and founded a public school- “The School for the Physical City.” He has authored more than 200 professional papers and presentations and has written several books and chapters in books including: Traffic Shortcuts and Tips, A Toolbox for Traffic Safety, Understanding Infrastructure, Traffic Conundrums and Parking Rules Explained.
Mr. Schwartz is an expert in the field of transportation engineering and traffic safety. He has received a score of awards for his work including 2008 Trendsetter by Public Works Magazine, Civil Engineer of the Year from the American Society of Civil Engineers, The American Council of Engineering Companies Engineer of the Year Award, Engineering Excellence Award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York, Bridge Engineer of the Year, Transportation Engineer of the Year, Sage Award from the American Engineering Alliance, Transportation Paper of the Year Award, Volvo Traffic Safety Award for his safety unit at NYC DOT, Outstanding Contributions to Women In Government, Women’s Transportation Seminar Employer of the Year and Public Service Award.
Linda M. Spock was the principal in Linda M. Spock Consulting for ten years and has been the President of Spock Solutions, Inc. since June 2004.
Ms. Spock has extensive knowledge of E-ZPass, dating back to the late 1980’s. She was ETC Program Director for the Port Authority of NY & NJ from approximately 1992-1994. In parallel, she served on multiple Interagency Group (IAG) committees including as Chair of both the Marketing and Policy Committees. Her IAG tenure included the technology testing and selection process and the attempted regional clearinghouse effort. She served on the IAG Negotiating Team with tag/reader vendors and represented the IAG in multiple external settings. Beyond her professional association with E-ZPass, she is proud to be the first civilian E-ZPass accountholder.
Ms.Spock’s 11-year tenure at the Port Authority also included a number of staff and line positions. She gained hands-on experience in operations by serving as Assistant Manager of both the Lincoln Tunnel and Port Authority Bus Terminal. She also was a Special Assistant in the Office of the Executive Director, an Economic Analyst in the Planning and Development and Economic Development Departments, and a Public Services Representative in the Tunnels, Bridges and Terminals (TB&T) Department. Finally, she was selected for the highly competitive two-year Management Associate Program in TB&T.
Ms. Spock is a respected transportation expert. She is particularly well versed in toll operations from her work for International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association and Transportation Research Board. She has extensive consulting experience related to E-ZPass, including developing marketing guidelines and the first draft of a technology RFP for the entire Interagency Group and working on two Customer Service Center RFP’s for New York toll agencies.
Ms. Spock’s other consulting assignments have included developing background materials on tolls for Kansas Turnpike Authority and Kansas DOT, writing the Final Report for the Governor’s Task Force on I-287/Tappan Zee Bridge Alternatives, researching and writing a report on Travel Demand Management for that same Task Force, being on call for ITS Scoping Services for TBTA, and contributing to an FHWA project on Innovative Contracting Procedures for Intelligent Transportation Systems.
Ms. Spock has served as a Visiting Scholar at NYU’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management since 2001. At the Rudin Center, Ms. Spock has researched and written detailed reports about Environmental Justice in Transportation and Programmed Transit Fare Increases. She also conceived and helped organize a conference on Regional Partnerships in Transportation to coincide with the tenth anniversary of IAG E-ZPass technology selection in 2004. Recently, she joined the Editorial Board for the NY Transportation Journal.
Brian Sterman is Deputy Director, Long Range Planning at the MTA’s Metro North Railroad. He has been in the transit industry for more than 25 years in various senior planning, programming, and marketing positions at FTA, MTA New York City Transit, and the Federal Railroad Administration. He has considerable expertise in FTA’s Alternatives Analysis process being involved with it since its inception and has worked with transit properties in developing and managing their rehabilitation programs. Among his accomplishments was the development of the plan presented to the United States Congress for high speed rail service between New York and Boston.
Mr. Sterman received a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University, an M.S. in Transportation Planning from Northwestern University, and an M.B.A. from New York University.
Professor Wakeman is the Deputy Director of the Center for Maritime Systems and Research Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Ocean Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey. Previously, he was with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Port Commerce Department for nearly 13 years as General Manager, Waterways Development Division, and with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco and Sacramento Districts, for more than 22 years as a Program and Project Manager as well as the Director of the Bay-Delta Hydraulics Model in Sausalito, CA. Dr. Wakeman has extensive experience in transportation, navigation, port development, and marine environmental issues. His profession affiliations include American Society of Civil Engineers, PIANC International, New York Academy of Sciences, and the National Academies Transportation Research Board. Dr. Wakeman has a MA, Marine Biology from San Francisco State University, MS, Civil Engineering from University of California, Davis, and Eng.Sc.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University, New York. His numerous publications include 2 books, co-editor, and more than 90 technical papers.
Allen J. Zerkin is an Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, teaching courses on negotiation and conflict management. Since 1999, he has been conducting a popular one-day workshop on negotiation at the American Planning Association’s annual National Planning Conference, and he serves as a member of the faculty of Het Amsterdams ADR Instituut in the Netherlands, teaching multi-party mediation and advanced negotiation workshops. He is member of the New York Bar and earned his J.D. at Yale Law School.
Professor Zerkin specializes in the design and facilitation of processes, such as stakeholder consensus building processes and roundtable dialogues, that are intended to resolve or to advance stakeholders’ understanding of state and local disputes and controversies.
