May 2023 - ACEC/MW Annual Conference

Attendee List & Photos

Attendee List

Event Photos

 

Presentation Files

Silver Line Session

Transformative Project Collaboration

DC Sustainability Plan

Luncheon Keynote

 

Our Keynote Speaker

Jane Datta - Former Chief Human Capital Officer
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

 

Richard Kenney, PE - Deputy Chief Engineer 1
District Department of Transportation (DDOT)

Mr. Kenney was appointed Deputy Chief Engineer in March 2017.  He previously served as the Program Manager for the Infrastructure Project Management Administration’s Team 1 for 5 years leading capital projects in Wards 1 and 2. His portfolio comprises approximately $1 billion in projects including the South Capitol St/Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, the Benning Road and Streetcar Project, the H Street Bridge Replacement, and the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge Rehabilitation.
 
Mr. Kenney holds a Master of Business Administration from the George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University where he graduated Cum Laude. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the District of Columbia, and Arizona with over 26 years of experience in Bridge and Roadway project design and construction administration. He is also a certified Project Management Professional. In his spare time he enjoys biking and running on the District’s many bike lanes and trails, most notably the Anacostia Riverwalk.

 

 

Joe McAndrew - Assistant Secretary for Transportation
Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT)

 

Victor Hoskins - President & CEO
Fairfax County Economic Development Authority

Victor Hoskins is President and CEO of the Fairfax County (Va.) Economic Development Authority (FCEDA).  He is an MIT trained Urban Planner and Real Estate Executive that oversees 
growth of the largest economy in Virginia, which was named the “Top State for Business Climate” 
in 2022 by the Site Selection Magazine and ranked no. 1 in the 2021 and 2019 CNBC “America’s Top States for Business” study. Mr. Hoskins received a Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023 and is frequently chosen for lists of the most influential business leaders in Virginia and the Greater Washington area.
 
At FCEDA, Mr. Hoskins has led a team that has secured approximately $3 billion in capital investment working with companies that announced the creation of more than 38,000 jobs. He also launched a multi-faceted talent initiative aimed at attracting, retaining, retraining, and growing the workforce in Northern Virginia. To-date, more than 1,000 companies and 100 universities have been engaged and 1.5 million job seekers across the U.S. have visited the digital job hub created for Fairfax County and Northern Virginia. Previously, Mr. Hoskins directed economic development in Arlington County, Va., where he led the team that brought Amazon's second headquarters to Northern Virginia, attracting $4 billion in private capital investment. During his tenure, his team attracted or retained more than 14 million square feet of commercial office tenants and helped create more than 82,000 jobs. While in Arlington, Mr. Hoskins also collaborated with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership to implement a $1.1 billion Tech Talent Pipeline program that has resulted in the creation of two tech innovation campuses. 
 
Mr. Hoskins holds an Honors undergraduate degree from Dartmouth and has held executive leadership positions in real estate in both the public and private sectors. As Deputy Mayor of the District of Columbia, his team transformed Washington with projects such as City Center, the Wharf and Union Market. His career has taken him from Wall Street to Main Street, and he has expanded economies from Los Angeles/Long Beach to the Mid-Atlantic region.

 

Kathleen Linehan - President
Alpha Corporation

Kathleen Linehan, PE is President of Alpha Corporation, a Small, Woman-owned, SWaM certified engineering firm headquartered in Dulles, VA.  Kathleen manages a workforce of 130 employees in Dulles, Virginia Beach, Baltimore, and Miami  to deliver CEI, PM/CM services, project controls and claims, structural and civil design, and bridge inspection. 
 
She has over 30 years’ experience in public and private sector, including Chief Engineer of the DC Department of Transportation from 2006-2009, and Vice President CH2M HILL and Jacobs from 2009-2019 where she was a Program Manager for the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative and the AASHTO Implementation of the Strategic Highway Research Program.
 
Kathleen is active in a number of external organizations, and is an Executive Member of the Federal City Council, VTCA Engineering Consultant Leadership Committee, Chair of the ACEC Metro Washington Legislative Committee, VDOT Transportation Workforce Partnership Forum,  WTS (International Board Member 2009-11) , Washington Airports Task Force,  Anacostia Watershed Society Board of Directors.  


 

Amado Baltazar - Principal
BvF Engineering, Inc.

Mr. Amado Baltazar, PE, PMI-SP (BvF) is the President of BvF Engineering, Inc., a multi-disciplinary engineering DBE/MBE/SBE firm located in Columbia, MD.  Prior to founding BvF, Mr. Baltazar had extensive experience working with various ENR Top 500 engineering firms.  Mr. Baltazar earned his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and Master of Engineering in Transportation from City University of New York (CUNY).  He has over thirty years of professional engineering experience managing a wide variety of civil, structural, and construction projects from the planning stage through the preparation of final contract documents to the construction phase. 
 
Mr. Baltazar has significant experience in transportation, traffic, highway, bridges, drainage, and utility engineering projects. As a licensed professional engineer in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia, and Virginia, he served as Project Manager, Highway/Traffic Task Leader, and Bridge Inspection Team Leader on several transportation projects with responsibility for design and preparation of contract plans and specifications for District Department of Transportation, Maryland Transportation Authority, State Highway Administration, NYC Department of Design and Construction, New Jersey Department of Transportation, and New York State Department of Transportation.  He also has extensive experience on construction and program management projects as Constructability Review Engineer, QA/QC Manager, Project Manager, and Scheduler on several water and wastewater projects for DC Water and WSSC. 



 

Silver Line Completion Session

Drew Hascall - Vice President, Office of Engineering
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA)

Andrew “Drew” Hascall serves as the Vice President of Engineering Support and the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project. 

Hascall brings 30 years of engineering experience to the job. He came to the Airports Authority in August 2020 as a deputy vice president in the Office of Engineering, responsible for the Authority’s design and planning functions. From July 2021 to July 2022 he served as the  acting senior vice president for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project. 

Prior to joining the Airports Authority, Hascall served nearly 28 years as a Civil Engineer Corps officer in the U.S. Navy. There, he was promoted to the position of operations officer for the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, overseeing facility planning, design, construction and operations services for the Navy and U.S. Marine Corps worldwide. 

He has extensive infrastructure experience with large-scale construction projects, including the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Addition and the Presidential Aircraft Replacement Hangar. He also assisted in Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. In 2010, he led all U.S. military construction projects in northern Italy, including the U.S. Army's largest ever. 

Hascall earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a master's degree in business administration (finance) from the Naval Postgraduate School. He completed the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business Executive Program. 

 

Neil Nott - Director, Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project (DULS)
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)

 

Haydn Heman-Ackah, NCARB - Senior Vice President of Transportation
WSP

Haydn Heman-Ackah serves as Senior Vice President - Transportation, for WSP Capital District Area. He is a
registered architect, with over 35 years’ experience on transportation projects. He has demonstrable expertise
planning, designing, developing, and delivering light rail facilities through design-build and other alternative
delivery models.

Haydn has served in leadership roles for several high-profile projects that have received local, national, or
international recognition. He recently served as Director of Engineering for 2 years on the Bechtel led Riyadh Metro
Project in Saudi Arabia.

Haydn’s most notable role was his architectural lead on the entire WMATA Silver Line Metrorail project. Haydn
had the unique opportunity to serve as lead architect for Phase-I under Bechtel DTP from the preliminary
engineering phase where various design options were explored through project closeout and subsequently Design
Integration Manager overseeing the engineering for Phase-II under Clark Construction CRC. Haydn was known for
his ability to bridge the gap between Owner, Contractor, and Engineer/Architect.

Prior to that on WMATA’s Morgan Boulevard Station and Largo Station Parking Facility, Haydn again led the
architectural design team, developed creative design concepts, which help earn the project the 2005 Northern
Virginia Chapter AIA Award for Design.

Haydn earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree at Howard University.

 

Erin Donovan, PE - Chief Operating Officer
T3 Design Corporation

Erin Donovan is Chief Operating Officer at T3 Design, a woman-owned engineering consulting firm located in Fairfax, Virginia. Erin earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from The Catholic University of American in Washington, DC and a M.S. in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech. Erin is responsible for managing a staff of engineers with a business practice that includes Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Erin has been active in many professional organizations including holding leadership roles in ASCE and TRB as well as WTS-DC. Erin is an ACEC/MW Board Director.  Erin supported the Silver Line project for several years starting with Phase 1, supporting WMATA with final acceptance and project closeout and transitioning to support of Phase 2 with the design build team, Capital Rail Constructors to implement lessons learned and implement a strategy for final acceptance and project closeout based on her Phase 1 knowledge and experience.  



 

Transformative Project Collaboration

Andrew Lindsey - Director of Applied Research & Development
Alpha Corporation

 

 

Sandi Vallely, NIGP-CPP
Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA)

Sandra Clifford is an accomplished and experienced public servant, having spent over 20 years in various State of Maryland, federal government, and other procurement positions.

Sandi is an attorney by training, who graduated from the State University of New York at Geneseo with a B.A. in Political Science and a Juris Doctor from Touro Law School.  She worked in the Maryland Attorney General’s Office for 10 years and then with the Maryland Department of Transportation and the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Towson University. She also worked at the U.S. Small Business Administration before joining WMATA in 2022.   

Sandi has one son and enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, and reading.

 

Rudy Gonzalez - Director of Procurement, Capital Programs
DC Water

Mr. Gonzalez serves the Authority as Director of Procurement, Capital Programs.  Before joining DC Water in August 2019 he held similar positions at Chesapeake Utilities Corporation and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission.

In his role he is responsible for enhancing DC Water’s Capital Programs procurement capabilities, working in collaboration with the Authority’s Engineering and Construction groups to introduce best practices designed to impact the success of capital-intensive investments. Mr. Gonzalez is also tasked with leading the sourcing of Capital Programs include procurement planning, market outreach, developing sourcing strategies, solicitation approval, pre-bid conference coordination, bid and proposal evaluation, and approval of contracts and modifications.

His work in Capital Programs concentrates on the strategic functions of the procurement process including category management, negotiations, supplier relationship management and supporting the Authority’s Business Development Plan.

Mr. Gonzalez holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Route to Business from the University of Texas at Austin.  He is a member of the Institute for Supply Management where he is a Certified Professional in Supply Management. Mr. Gonzalez co-authored a 2019 cover article for Water Finance & Management magazine titled At A Crossroads: Is Now the Time for Water Utilities to Rethink Procurement and Delivery of Capital Projects

 

DC Sustainability Plan Brings Transformation

Thomas Bartholomew - Branch Chief for Renewable Energy and Clean Transportation
District Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)

Thomas Bartholomew is the Branch Chief for Renewable Energy and Clean Transportation with the DC Department of Energy and Environment, where he works on policies and programs to decarbonize the District’s energy and transportation systems including administering the Solar for All program, which has provided savings of around $500 annually to over 7,000 low and moderate income District households to date.


 

Amanda Stout - Deputy Chief Officer for Project Delivery
District Department of Transportation (DDOT)

Amanda Stout is DDOT’s Deputy Chief Officer for Project Delivery. She provides executive leadership and coordination working across the agency to deliver the Mayor’s priority capital infrastructure projects. Amanda joined DDOT in 2015 as the Special Assistant for Economic Development and then served as the agency’s Deputy Chief of Staff. As the Department’s point person on a portfolio of capital projects, Amanda coordinates with District partners and stakeholders emphasizing the role that transportation plays in creating a more accessible and sustainable city.

 

Amanda’s career includes both public and private sector experience in the transportation industry, working in local government city halls and at engineering and design firms throughout the Northeast, including positions at STV Incorporated in Baltimore, WSP in New Jersey, Sasaki Associates in Massachusetts, and the Cities of Newton, Somerville, and Boston, Massachusetts. Amanda holds a bachelor’s degree from Williams College, a Master’s Degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a certification from the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).


 

Rebecca Stack - Principal
Designgreen

Rebecca Stack is a civil engineer, educator, and principal of Designgreen. Her work is at the intersection of urban design and the protection of natural resources. During her tenure as a code official for the District of Columbia, she co-authored the city’s Stormwater Retention standards and its innovative Stormwater Retention trading market. In the private sector, Rebecca has worked on all aspects of stormwater management retrofits and compliance from planning and design to construction and maintenance. Her most recent work focuses on the integration of water quality and flood management with blue-green infrastructure and community engagement and the consensus design process on neighborhood scale urban resilience projects. 


 

Dan Emerine - Associate Director, Citywide Planning
DC Office of Planning

Dan Emerine is the Associate Director for Citywide Planning at the D.C. Office of Planning. In this role, he provides strategic direction to OP’s systems planning efforts, including analyzing data and formulating recommendations for various sectors, including housing, economic development, capital facilities, infrastructure, transportation, and sustainability. Prior to July 2022, Dan led DDOT’s Policy and Legislative Affairs Division. In this capacity, he managed the development and analysis of transportation policy at the local, regional, and federal levels and the legislative and government affairs strategy for the District’s transportation agenda. Mr. Emerine’s policy work on behalf of DDOT included advancing the agency’s exploration of roadway pricing mechanisms to manage congestion and improve transportation equity, studying and planning for the impacts of automated driving systems, and pilot-testing groundbreaking new regulatory regimes for the governance of shared micro-mobility services. Prior to joining DDOT in 2017, Dan served for nearly a decade with the D.C. Office of Planning —first as a leader of the six-year effort to update D.C.’s 50-year-old zoning code, and later as the agency’s senior transportation planner. Dan has also worked with the International City/County Management Association, helping local governments and researching best practices in planning and zoning, and as a research assistant and organizer with the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a network of sustainable transportation and land-use reform advocates working to build a more sustainable and equitable region in the Washington metropolitan area. Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Denison University and a master’s in public management from the Maryland School of Public Policy. He is a Certified Public Manager, a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism, and a graduate of the Urban Land Institute’s prestigious Regional Land Use Leadership Institute.


 

Mark Lawrence, AIA - Principal
EL Studio, PLLC

Mark Lawrence’s architectural interests stem from the place where he lives and works. The alley-based studio in Washington DC serves as a testbed for researching a variety of scales from questioning urban infrastructural issues to materiality and detail. He has worked on a range of project types of varying scale with architecture firms in both Washington, DC and Los Angeles, CA, including the US Federal Courthouse in San Diego and the UCLA Broad School Art Center reconstruction and expansion under Richard Meier and Partners. Mark has taught at several institutions, most recently in the graduate Urban Practice concentration at Catholic University School of Architecture and Planning. Mark serves on the Board of Trustees at Sheridan School in Washington DC. Mark is a licensed and registered architect in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Florida and Washington, DC.



 

ACEC Speakers

Keith Foxx, PE - Principal Of FOXXSTEM
ACEC/MW Board Chair

Keith Foxx, P.E. is a graduate of Howard University’s School of Engineering. He has practiced as a civil engineer, a certified project manager, certified construction manager and program manager for infrastructure projects throughout the Washington, DC region. He is now Principal of FOXXSTEM, which provides planning, civil engineering design, construction management/inspection and program management services for transportation, water and energy infrastructure projects. He serves on the Executive Board for the American Council of Engineering Companies of Metropolitan Washington (ACEC/MW) and is a Board Trustee for the Fairfax County Public Library System.


 

Mugdha Tipnis - Senior Vice President of WSP
ACEC/MW Board Chair-Elect

Mugdha Tipnis serves as a Transportation Business Leader and Senior Vice President for WSP. Currently, she leads the transportation group for WSP's DC Office. In this role, Mugdha continually sets the strategy, approach, and profit growth by aligning business operations with key goals, capture planning, and positioning. She is responsible for leading the delivery of high-profile projects for top clients and serves as principal-in-charge and is the primary point of contact for major engineering design, program management, and construction management assignments. 
 
Mugdha is a champion for continuing education, professional development, women in leadership, and diversity & inclusion programs in the industry. She has strong industry knowledge through her active involvement with several professional associations including WTS, ACEC, APTA, and COMTO among others. 
 
Currently, she holds leadership positions on executive boards including the American Council of Engineering Companies of Metropolitan Washington (ACEC/MW) Board of Directors. Mugdha is the incoming Chair for ACEC/MW. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Industrial Electronics from Pune University, India, and a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.



 

Art Barrett
ACEC National Board Chair

Mr. Barrett is a Senior Vice President of Gannett Fleming, Inc. in Baltimore, MD. He served as a Vice Chair of ACEC from 2018 to 2020. He is an ACEC Fellow and serves on the Planning Cabinet as well as participates on the Transportation and Federal Agency and Procurement Advocacy (FAPA) committees.

He has served on the ACEC Maryland Executive Board, as Chair and National Director, as well as the ACEC/MD PAC Champion.

Mr. Barrett is a member of the ACEC/PAC Chairman’s Club. He is a member of the ACEC Senior Executives Institute (SEI) Class 2018. He was recognized as the ASCE Maryland Engineer of the Year and has served as President of both ASCE/MD and the Engineers Society of Baltimore.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Clarkson University.