2022 Southeast Wisconsin Transportation Symposium

Eric is the training and operations lead for a team responsible for supporting, training, and customizing the roadway design and plan production at WisDOT

Dr. Avdeev teaches multidisciplinary Product Realization course and various design courses. He is a founding director of the Advanced Manufacturing and Design Laboratory, the Principal Investigator and Director of the NSF I-Corps Site of Southeastern Wisconsin, and co-founder of the UWM Startup Challenge program and a faculty coordinator of the University Innovation Fellows program at UWM.

Brad leads the Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAV) efforts at WisDOT, as a Strategic Initiatives Officer in the Division of Budget and Strategic Initiatives. He background is in electrical and mechanical engineering: he has 25 years of experience in manufacturing engineering, process improvement and business consulting in various industries, and earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Marquette University. Brad joined WisDOT in 2013 and has worked as the Economic Development Officer, a Program Manager for Local Roads, and he managed the 2018 Governor’s Steering Committee on Connected and Autonomous Vehicles.

Carrie obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and has been working in the field of stormwater engineering since 1994. Carrie began her career as a Stormwater Engineer for the Cities of Milwaukee and Brookfield, prior to founding Stormwater Solutions Engineering (SSE) in 2002. SSE is located at the Global Water Center in Milwaukee and has a team of 10 professionals designing stormwater, green infrastructure, water quality and flood control practices for municipal, transportation, water agency and private clients. Carrie is also the inventor/owner of StormGUARDen™, the patented rainwater harvesting planter garden device.

Andrew has spent the last 16 years focused on transportation projects that lower Green House Gas emissions from the transportation sector.  He brings relationships throughout the clean transportation sector, deep expertise in emissions reduction programs and a strong understanding of the U.S. DOE’s priorities around emissions reduction. Notably, Andrew is recognized as a national U.S. DOE Clean Cities Leader for his work as Consulting Services Director for Clean Fuels Ohio and Directing the Ohio Green Fleets program. Andrew brings experience performing Electric Vehicle planning projects for fleets, as well as planning and deployment of public EV charging stations serving a variety of users from multi-unit dwelling to workplace to public fast charging at wide range of scales. 

Glenn has been Division Administrator since June 2019. Prior to that, he served as the Assistant Division Administrator (ADA) in the Illinois Division since 2001.  Glenn began his career with FHWA in 1985. Upon completing the Highway Engineer Training Program, he was assigned to the Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division in Northern Virginia where he served as a Roadway Design Engineer, Bridge Design Engineer and as head of the Bridge Inspection Unit. In 1996, he became the Division Bridge Engineer in the Missouri Division.

Glenn has a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Kentucky and a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from The George Washington University. He is also a certified NHI instructor for the Conducting Effective Program Reviews (CEPR) and the Writing Effective Program Reviews (WEPR) courses.

Dave Giordano is the Executive Director for Root-Pike Watershed Initiative Network – a 501c3 non-profit that restores, protects, and sustains the Root-Pike basin watersheds in Southeastern Wisconsin. Dave has been committed to the watersheds of Southeastern Wisconsin since his Board involvement at Root-Pike WIN starting in 2011. In 2016, Dave became the Executive Director. In 2021, he was awarded “Conservationist of the Year” by the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation for his efforts in bringing significant restoration to the Root-Pike basin watersheds. Dave has advanced more than 50 restoration projects worth more than $25M in the last five years in his role as project leader for the organization. Dave’s strategy for success is to seek “win-win-win” for the environment, economy, and community wellness.

Paul is the chief operating officer for a state agency with more than 3,2​00 employees, dozens of field offices and a biennial budget of more than $6 billion.

Paul recently served as deputy administrator for the Division of External Services at the Department ​of Natural Resources. Prior to that, Paul served as the WisDOT Deputy Secretary from January 2015 to January 2017. He also spent 15 years working in management positions in WisDOT’s budget office, including the director position from February 2011 to January 2015.

Paul has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and received a Master of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Paul was born and raised in Duluth. Paul and his wife Christine live in Fitchburg and have two sons.

Tami Jackson is the legislative liaison and public policy strategist for the Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities. Tami brings more than fifteen years of public policy experience to her work with the legislature, Governor’s office, state agencies, and grassroots advocates on a wide variety of issues including non-driver transportation. Tami currently serves as one of the co-chairs of the Wisconsin Non-Driver Advisory Committee.

Nick has served as Midwest Director of Public Affairs for AAA – The Auto Club Group since 2014. In this role he manages external affairs, media relations, and advocacy efforts in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Nick previously spent seven years as a Public Affairs Specialist for AAA, coordinating events, programs and special projects to promote safety among the most vulnerable roadway users: children, teens and seniors. Prior to joining AAA, Nick worked for the Institute of Real Estate Management, the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Boy Scouts of America.

Nick graduated from DePaul University, where he earned a B.A. in political science. He and his wife, Carrie, live in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin with their three children.

Denise advocates for the rights of Wisconsin’s nearly 2 million non-drivers. Denise, who is legally blind, knows the everyday challenges faced by those who cannot or choose not to drive. She advocates at the national, state and local levels, including serving as co-chair on the Wisconsin Non-Driver Advisory Committee, the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center’s Collaboration Advisory Committee and the City of Madison Transportation Commission and is a leader with the WI Disability Vote Coalition.

In April of 2022, Mayor Johnson was elected as the forty-fifth chief executive of the City of Milwaukee winning with more than seventy percent of the vote. He is the first Black Mayor elected in the city, and only the fourth elected mayor in the past sixty-two years.

Mayor Johnson’s commitment to public service began at an early age when he was selected by the YMCA to participate in a pre-college program for low-income Milwaukee Public School students. That program, Sponsor-A-Scholar, instilled in him a passion to make Milwaukee better for future generations.

Growing up, his family moved frequently, and until middle school Mayor Johnson attended a different Milwaukee Public School almost every year. He has seen violence, evictions, food insecurity — challenges common in urban poverty. He brings that lived experience to his work as Mayor.

After graduating Bay View High School, Mayor Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and returned home to work for the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board (MAWIB), now Employ Milwaukee. His focus included working with at-risk youth, youth entering the workforce for the first time, and adults retooling to enter the workforce.

Before his election as Alderman, he served as a staff assistant in the Mayor’s Office, where he worked with community and faith leaders to find creative solutions to pressing issues facing families.

Mayor Johnson remains deeply committed to the community, having served on the boards of the Milwaukee YMCA, ACLU-Wisconsin and Milwaukee Community Brainstorming Conference.

He and his wife, Dominique, have one son and twin daughters and live on Milwaukee’s north side.

Josh LeVeque is a Civil Engineer-Advanced for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation on the Southeast Freeways Team. He has been with the department since 2001, and has worked on various design and construction projects. He has most recently served as a design project manager the Zoo Interchange project, I-94 East-West project, and various freeway rehabilitation projects.

Josh is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Wisconsin.

Dr. Xiaopeng (Shaw) Li is currently an associate professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). Pior to joining UW-Madison, he was a faculty member at the University of South Florida. He has served as the director for one USDOT national university transportation center, National Institute for Congestion Reduction (NICR). He established the Connected and Automated Transportation Systems Lab that developed a multi-scale CAV testbed including multiple full-scale and reduced-scale CAVs and associated system units. He was the holder of the Susan A. Bracken Faculty Fellowship and the Vasant Surti Fellowship at USF. He is a recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award. He has served as the PI or a co-PI for a number of federal (NSF, USDOT, USDOE), local (e.g., state DOTs, UTCs, I-4 Corridor Program), and industry grants. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal papers. His major research interests include automated vehicle traffic control and connected & interdependent infrastructure systems.

Kevin Muhs is the Executive Director for the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, the regional planning agency and metropolitan planning organization for Southeastern Wisconsin. Kevin supervises and directs the Commission’s advisory regional planning efforts in the areas of transportation, land use development, and environmental resources. Prior to becoming Executive Director, Kevin helped lead the development of VISION 2050, Southeastern Wisconsin’s regional land use and transportation plan. Kevin’s background is in transportation planning and engineering, with particular experience in planning and implementing public transit services. Kevin strongly believes that a robust multimodal transportation system is needed for Southeastern Wisconsin to compete with other metro areas.

Dr. Qin is the Director of the Institute for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation at UWM.  His research focuses on highway safety and crash modeling, traffic operations, ITS, sustainable transportation planning, statistical methods and applications in transportation, and GIS/GPS applications.

Dr. Schneider has more than 20 years of experience in the pedestrian and bicycle transportation field. He has led more than 25 peer-reviewed journal articles on topics such as active transportation safety, demand analysis, and data collection. Dr. Schneider chaired the Transportation Research Board Pedestrian Committee from 2014 to 2020 and was named the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals Research Professional of the Year in 2019.

Kevin Shafer serves as Executive Director of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD).
MMSD is a regional government agency that provides water reclamation and flood management
services for more than 1.1 million customers in 28 communities in the Greater Milwaukee Area. The
District serves 411 square miles that cover all, or segments of, six watersheds. Established by state law,
the District is governed by 11 commissioners with taxing authority. Since assuming this role, Kevin has
transformed the MMSD into one of the leading wastewater utilities in the country through the
integration of green infrastructure with traditional infrastructure.

Ryan is a Strategic Initiatives Policy Advisor in WisDOT’s Division of Budget and Strategic Initiatives. In this role, Ryan plans for and facilitates the Wisconsin Non-Driver Advisory Committee. Ryan is a UW-Madison La Follette School of Public Affairs graduate and has been with WisDOT since 2019.

Brian leads efforts to bridge between the UWM and the private sector through programs that include catalyst grants and intellectual property management as well as fostering corporate partnerships, spinout companies and student entrepreneurship. Mr. Thompson is Co-PI on the Milwaukee I-Corps Site. He teaches entrepreneurial thinking as an adjunct instructor in UWM’s Honors College and lectures as part of the Lubar School of Business Executive Education program.

Secretary Thompson was appointed to lead WisDOT in January 2019.  WisDOT is one of the largest state agencies, with 3,400 employees and a biennial budget of over $6 billion.  Prior to his appointment, he was executive director of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin.  He has over 25 years experience working with Wisconsin businesses, communities, legislators and local governments.  He is a graduate of UW-Madison.

Bao Tran is currently the Technical Services Section 1 Chief overseeing Materials, Real Estate, Survey/plat, and Utility unit. He has 28 years of design, construction, and system operations experience. Bao’s has worked 10 years as a consultant working on WisDOT projects and 18 years with WisDOT as a construction/design lead, project manager, and supervisor on numerous and diverse projects. He has spent the last 6 years as the supervisor in the Maintenance unit focusing on maintaining state owned facilities and right of way. Bao graduated from Marquette University with BA in Civil Engineering.

Joe Ulatowski is a Traffic Engineer for HNTB Corporation in Milwaukee. He has 11 years of experience in freeway and arterial corridor modeling, forecasting, OD data analysis, and construction mitigation planning. He has worked on a number of complex projects in Wisconsin, Texas, Illinois, and Indiana. Joe is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Platteville and a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Wisconsin.

Kaleb has served in a variety of roles at WisDOT that have allowed him to focus on regulatory issues and policy development. In his current role in the Division of Budget and Strategic Initiatives he has been tasked with leading WisDOT’s effort in preparing for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program.