2022 American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Rail Conference

Make connections, learn from industry veterans and discuss the future of rail with us at the American Public Transportation 2022 Rail Conference in San Diego. Our experts will be sharing their knowledge about traction power engineering and assessing risks. These are sessions you won’t want to miss!

We are proud to sponsor this year’s opening general session, which will kickoff with remarks from HDR’s recent APTA Emerging Leaders Program participants, Rubi Sanchez (Class of 2022) and Rebecca Santiago (incoming class of 2023). We look forward to continuing our support for APTA’s leadership as we move into the future of rail transportation.

Our APTA Sessions

Opening General Session: Featuring Keynote Speaker Dr. Leah Weiss

• Monday, June 6 | 6:30 a.m. CDT

Join your industry peers as we kick-off the first in-person rail conference in three years. Hear from APTA leadership and our host, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, as they share all the exciting and relevant information you will learn and see over the next three days.

Our keynote Dr. Leah Weiss, is an acclaimed researcher, leadership consultant, and author. Dr. Weiss teaches on compassionate leadership at Stanford Graduate School of Business and is the principal teacher and founding faculty for Stanford's Compassion Cultivation Program. She will lead an engaging conversation on workplace burnout, and how to climb out of it and what we can do to find balance in our lives.

Traction Power: The Juice

In the early 1900s, Juice was used as a colloquialism for electrical power. This session looks at various aspects of Modern Day traction power engineering.

• Monday, June 6 | 8:30 a.m. CDT 
• Speakers: Moises Ramos, Sr. Electrification Engineer, HDR; Michael Ratnasingham, Senior Executive Officer - Systems Engineering, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Lamont Smith, Senior Systems Engineer, Hatch LTK; Ron Tien, Senior Director Systems Engineering, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority; Svetlana Grechka, Deputy Project Manager - Design, Regional Transportation District; Andrew Jones, Sr. Traction Power Engineer, Systra; Navid Golbon, Senior Systems Engineer, Parsons Corporation

Rail Ridership Improvements — Taking People Where They Want to Go!

Ridership for rail has been greatly affected in the US during the pandemic. Transit agencies continue to innovate and look at increasing ridership in non-traditional ways as we come out of this pandemic.  This session will highlight a few strategies that some transit agencies are taking to improve ridership.

• Monday, June 6 | 8:30 a.m. CDT
• Moderator: Chris Tomlinson, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Speakers: 
  • Laura Grams, AVP, HDR 
  • Ryan T. Judge, Director, Strategic Planning & Analysis, SEPTA, Philadelphia, PA
  • Patrick J. McMahon, AICP, Senior Planner, MDOT Maryland Transit Administration, Baltimore, MD
  • Taylor McAdam, Senior Transportation Planner, Fehr & Peers
    • Co-presenter: Sebastian Petty, Director of Special Projects, Caltrain, San Carlos, CA

Fantasy Project Risk Workshop

Please join us for this interactive session as we establish the risk profile for a Fantasy capital project. Fantasy stakeholder teams led by agency and industry leaders will assess risks in a workshop format. You will learn risk fundamentals as they apply to different aspects of the construction process – and have fun in the process!

• Monday, June 6 | 12 p.m. CDT
• Facilitators: 
  • Connie Crawford, P.E., Director of Rail and Transit, Halmar International
  • Mike Wetherell, P.E., PgMP, Senior Vice President, Transit Fleet & Program Management, McKissack & McKissack
  • Mark McLaren, ASLA, Senior Vice President, HDR
• Table Leads: 
  • Matthew DesRosier, MPH, CSP, CHMM, Department Manager, Health, Safety and Environmental Compliance, Orange County Transportation Authority
  • Matthew W. Pollack, P.E., PMP, Executive Director, Transit Development & Delivery, Maryland Transit Administration
• Speakers: Mark McLaren, ASLA, Senior Vice President, HDR; Connie Crawford, Director of Transit, ASTM North America; Michael Wetherell, Executive Vice President, McKissack & McKissack; Matthew Desrosier, Department Manager, Health, Safety and Environmental Compliance, Orange County Transportation Authority;  Matthew Pollack, Executive Director Transit Development & Delivery, Maryland Transit Administration