ypt 2013 annual report
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Young Professionals in Transportation 2013 Annual ReportTRANSCRIPT
2013 YEAR in REVIEW
Chair’s Message
Mission
YPT Members and Friends - 2012-2013 has been a year of remarkable growth for Young Professionals in Transportation. While we started the year with seven chapters, we now have 20 - and over 6000 members and friends. Moreover, we are now an international organization: our 20th chapter is in Vancouver, British Columbia!
Behind the scenes, we made many improvements. We rewrote chapter bylaws and other legal agreements, acquired an umbrella nonprofit tax status to cover our chapters across the country, and implemented a new membership management platform called CiviCRM. This new CRM system allows direct access to their membership accounts, email, and event RSVPs for the first time.
In other big news (that we hope members didn’t notice, because that means it went smoothly) we have split the Washington DC chapter, where YPT was founded, and international board into two separate organizations. This required significant reorganization of our funding and logistics, but allows the Washington DC area to have local chapter leadership dedicated to local programming, instead of trying to manage both local and international affairs. It also created an international Board of Directors to manage growth of all chapters. For our members in the DC area, there was no noticeable difference as local programming shifted from the international board to the new local chapter... but the split makes YPT a much more efficient and capable organization.
We’ve also launched an exciting partnership with AirSage to provide a competitive travel grant program to our members. All YPT members are eligible to apply for the quarterly grant, which covers the cost of members’ travel to conferences, classes, or other professional development events. In its first quarter alone, we were able to award three recipients with travel funding, and we hope to continue a long and productive partnership with AirSage to provide this valuable benefit to our members.
Over the next year, we’ll continue to expand and develop stronger working relationships with other national and international transportation organizations. As the premiere organization providing a voice for upcoming leaders in the transportation arena, YPT will continue to be the best possible resource for leadership, professional development, and networking opportunities.
Sincerely,
Katherine Kortum 2012-2013 Chair
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YPT provides professional development, fellowship, and networking opportunities for young professionals in the transportation field across the country and around the world.
Professional Development. A regular series of seminars, technical tours, and other opportunities from leading individuals or teams in transportation.
Fellowship. An ongoing forum for mutual support and interaction among young transportation professionals, especially for those starting their careers.
Networking. Networking events to help young professionals advance their careers and share innovative ideas.
YPT is based in Washington DC, with chapters opening around the US and Canada. Membership is open to all transportation professionals around the world. YPT does not have an age-restricted definition of ‘young.’ Anyone is welcome to take advantage of our activities.
No chapter in your area?
YPT is expanding to cities around the world. Join us as a member-at-large, and contact us to start a chapter where you are!
Mission
YPT LA at CicLAvia
YPT Atlanta 1st anniversary celebration
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Our members work for departments of transportation at all levels, on Capitol Hill, in the nonprofit sector, as consultants, as students, and more. Their work spans policy, implementation, engineering, communications, finance, planning - any profession within the transportation industry, both in the United States and around the world.
Interested individuals may affiliate with YPT in two ways: in keeping with our goal of providing fellowship, friends may affiliate for free, receive YPT publications, and attend many (but not all) YPT events. Friends are encouraged to become members, who pay a nominal $20 annual
membership fee to support YPT’s activities and receive additional membership benefits, including members-only events, access to the member database, and more.
Interest in YPT has continued to grow in 2013, with 6367 total affiliates (friends and members) in December 2013, up 35 percent since December 2012. Members have more than doubled, from 558 in December 2012 to 1190 in December 2013.
To become a friend or member of YPT, visit yptransportation.org/join.
2013 Members & Friends
YPT is proud of the diverse membership - both in age and in range of transportation careers - that our organization represents.
Members Friends Total
Albany 6 56 62
Anaheim/OC 24 119 143
Atlanta 69 146 215
Austin 20 171 191
Boston 114 747 861
Chicago 60 175 235
Denver 8 51 59
Houston 33 109 142
Los Angeles 28 133 161
Minneapolis/St. Paul 12 56 68
Nashville 29 20 49
Members Friends Total
New York City 175 744 919
Philadelphia 44 26 70
Phoenix 13 27 40
Pittsburgh 13 44 57
Portland 30 32 62
San Francisco 212 485 697
Seattle 46 33 79
Vancouver 12 30 42
Washington DC 213 1390 1603
At Large 29 583 612
TOTAL 558 4167 4725
Events are a cornerstone of the YPT experience, providing professional development, fellowship, and networking opportunities to our membership throughout the year. Several national events held in conjunction with large industry events provide members the opportunity to expand their networks throughout the year. At the chapter level, regular leadership seminars, networking events, community service opportunities, and social activities allow YPTers to build their connections and increase their expertise closer to home.
2013 Event SpotlightTransportation Research Board Annual Meeting. Our largest and most popular event continues to be the YPT Reception at the annual Transportation Research Board meeting in January. Attendance at the January 2012 event -- cohosted with TRB’s own Young Members Council -- far surpassed all expectations and, to this day, remains one of the most widely-attended YPT events. The reception at TRB provides the unique opportunity for members across the nation to interact with each other and with members of the International Board, Chapter Boards, and the YPT Board of Advisors.
Distinguished Speakers Series: Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Richard Davey. YPT Boston held its premier event in May 2013, in conjunction with the New England section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers and the Massachusetts chapter of the American Planning Association. Secretary Davey spoke about his career path and rise through the transportation ranks, including details about his career start, his passions, and his goals. He inspired the crowd with his story of living in his parents’ basement and his rise through the ranks at Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and now at Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The event was well attended with almost 100 people.
Accelerate Los Angeles. YPT Los Angeles hosted Accelerate Los Angeles in October 2013, a symposium on technology and transportation in the Los Angeles region. There were six speakers spread across two panels: 1. Using Big Data to Improve our Transportation Systems, and 2. Engage in the Public in Transportation Issues. The speakers included Dr. Ugur Demiryurek, ClearPath CTO and Research Scientist at USC; Rob Hranac, Vice President, ITeris; Ron Milam, Principal, Fehr & Peers; Lynda Bybee, Regional Communications Director, Metro; Jason Kiesel, Founder & CEO, City Sourced; and Thomas Szelazek, Senior Manager, Ride Amigos. The event was well attended by students, young professionals, and experienced professionals, with nearly 100 attendees. This event provided everyone with an opportunity to network and learn more about technology and changes to the transportation profession.
Events young professionals in transportation
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Chapter Reports
YPT has gone international!In 2013, YPT became an international organization with its first non-US
chapter starting in Vancouver, Canada. In addition to supporting established chapters in their social and professional events, YPT International has grown its
number of established chapters to twenty, with additional emerging chapters and several cities with significant interest in forming a chapter.
BostonHartfordAlbany
NYCPittsburgh Philadelphia
Washington
AtlantaNashville
ChicagoMilwaukee
Minneapolis
HoustonAustin
Portland
PhoenixAnaheim/OC
Los Angeles
San Francisco Denver
Seattle
Vancouver
Established chapterEmerging chapter
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YPT AtlantaAfter our kickoff event in April of 2012, we have had more than a year and half worth of events including 4 technical tours, 7 professional presentations and guest speakers, and 8 happy hours that spanned the Atlanta metro area and included a diverse array of functions, professions, and specializations relating to transportation. We hope our events have provided our members opportunities to meet fellow professionals and connect with them on a meaningful level.
We have grown from a handful of members with just over 20 ‘Friends’ on our email list to now more than 70 members and 200 friends. We would like to specially thank AECOM and AirSage for their continued support and sponsorship of YPT Atlanta.
Our end of the year party at Hudson Grill was a big success with over 60 attendees enjoying food, drinks, and a photo booth to close out the great year that YPT Atlanta has had, and we are looking forward to continuing our growth into 2014.
-- Chris Rome, Chair, YPT Atlanta
YPT BostonIn its third year, YPT Boston continued to expand on both membership and providing even more events to friends and members. The total friend and member count increased to over 800 by the end of the 2012-2013 fiscal year and paid membership increased to over 100 for the first time.
YPT Boston continued many of its annual programs, like our 2013 Distinguished Speaker event featuring Massachusetts’ Secretary of Transportation Richard Davey, as well as our very popular summer Technical Tour Series. This year we also continued old favorites like Transportation Trivia and our Lunch and Learn Series, while adding new events like our data visualization panel where YPT friends and members saw how Boston-area data viz experts are transforming information into stories about people and places.
-- Eric Halvorsen, Deputy Chair, YPT Boston
YPT ChicagoYPT Chicago continued its tradition of great happy hours with featured guests, and expanded its repertoire this year with technical tours. The Chicago Union Station Tour and the Bike Tour were each huge hits, attracting a large variety of professionals from across the transportation spectrum. Our members also continue to volunteer for the Chicago Engineers Foundation, a group dedicated to supporting Chicago high school students interested in studying engineering.
In 2014 we will continue to expand our offerings of events, from transit pub crawls to transportation trivia to open houses to student outreach. Contact us at [email protected] or like us at Facebook.com/YPTChicago to find out about our upcoming events and other ways to participate!
-- Erik Cempel, Chair, YPT Chicago
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YPT HoustonThis has been an exciting year for YPT Houston! Since our kickoff event in February, our monthly events have featured many of the region’s decision-makers, who have offered a multi-modal perspective -- a contrast to our perception by some as auto-centric. After 11 events, it’s clear to us that a city founded due to its strategic location in East Texas cares deeply about its transportation infrastructure.
We are looking forward to an exciting 2014. We have a list of exciting events planned, and are working with local sponsors to build support and increase participation. We currently have sponsors from two organizations and looking to add a few more. Our member board, some of the best transportation professionals around, are helping to make our organization even better. If you’re ever in Houston, please check out ypthouston.org for our next event!
-- Nick Norboge, Chair, YPT Houston
YPT Los AngelesYPT LA has experienced significant exposure and growth as a chapter since we were established in November 2012. We’ve really gotten a conversation rolling with presentations, joint events with other organizations, tours of popular transportation-specific locations, and monthly events.
The highlight event of our year was Accelerate >> Los Angeles, a symposium held in downtown Los Angeles with six high-profile transportation panelists. Co-sponsored by Los Angeles Department of Transportation, this two-hour rapid-fire format event delved into transportation technology and its role in solving transportation issues in the LA region. With more than 100 attendees and six expert speakers, this event drew media attention and raised the profile of YPT LA among top transportation professionals. Contributing to the chapter’s goals to connect young professionals to one another and senior-level professionals, Accelerate >> Los Angeles and other events throughout the year brought professionals of all levels together. Being in the same room, young professionals had the opportunity to make connections with senior-level professionals. YPT LA’s events in the past year have provided meaningful professional development resources to young professionals in LA.
-- Katie Lemmon, Chair, YPT Los Angeles
YPT MinneapolisYPT Minneapolis has now been an official chapter for over a year and a half (established in May 2012). The chapter held a variety of events during the year. Highlights included the Metro Transit Light Rail Operations and Maintenance Facility Tour, which was followed by a networking happy hour in July and a Transit Oriented Talk with Car2Go Minneapolis in October.
The YPT Minneapolis board has five members, including a graduate student, a researcher, and members working at non-profits and a consulting firm. YPT Minneapolis has about 50 Friends and 20 Members, as well as an active social media presence with over 100 likes on Facebook and more than 50 followers on Twitter.
In 2014 YPT Minneapolis plans to host an event every month, using results from a recent survey sent to chapter Friends and Members to inform event planning processes.
-- Laura Eash, Chair, YPT Minneapolis
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YPT San Francisco BayAfter a successful first year, the San Francisco Bay Chapter worked to diversify its 2013 programming with various types of events to meet the varied interests of our membership. We hosted a variety of new types of events, including professional mixers, panel discussions, and small group dinners -- in tandem with traditional happy hours, tours, and the popular “Beers with Peers” series.
In addition to hosting new programs, the chapter made significant strides as an organization. At the year’s outset, its Board of Directors established a “HIT List” (High-priority, Immediate, Transportation-related) of seven goals and achieved or exceeded each of them. As examples, the chapter surpassed 200 members, nearly doubling its paid membership from 2012, exceeded local sponsorship goals, and drafted a strategic plan to help chart its growth over the next several years.
Looking beyond traditional YPT programs, the chapter also took a lead role in organizing Transportation Camp, a popular transportation “unconference” which attracted over 200 transportation enthusiasts from the region. Looking forward to its third year, the YPT SF Bay Chapter’s primary goal will be to consolidate the quality of offerings to its members and firmly establish YPT as the premier forum for young professionals to network and learn about the latest developments at the forefront of the transportation field.
-- Paul Supawanich, Chair, YPT San Francisco
YPT NashvilleYPT Nashville was officially established in August 2013. After several months of spreading the word and becoming a partner with YP Nashville (part of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce) our Board of Directors worked hosted a successful launch event on November 12, 2013. The launch had over 50 people in attendance and was held at the Music City Star Commuter Rail Riverfront Station. The informal networking event transportation industry leaders from across the field. All aspects of the industry were covered, including public transportation, railroad, trucking, private transportation, engineering and consulting, the state department of transportation, and marine transport. At our launch event we also announced our first sponsor- Transit Solutions Group located in Lebanon, TN.
In 2014, we look forward to growing our membership and reaching out to more young professionals across the industry. We already have some exciting events in the works for 2014, including tours of the UPS hub facility and Nashville International Airport, and continuing the “Transit Oriented Drinks” networking series.
-- Amanda Watson, Chair, YPT Nashville
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With incredible growth over the last year, YPT is prepared to become even stronger in 2014.
Sponsorship
YPT will continue to reach out to organizations in industry, academia, and government to provide sponsorships that allow us to continue to grow at a tremendous rate. With the development of an International Board, we will seek out sponsors on an international level, in addition to those preferring to work with specific local chapters.
Professional Development Programs
Leadership seminars and networking events will continue to be the primary means for YPT to serve members. YPT chapters typically hold a mix of leadership seminars and networking events each year, alternating event types monthly. One of our annual international highlights will again be a Young Professionals Reception at the TRB Annual Meeting.
YPT International and regional chapters will continue to engage a diversity of speakers and industry practitioners at leadership seminars. Networking events will be held in both the Washington DC region where YPT was founded, and in areas served by our local and regional chapters.
YPT also offers members the opportunity to participate in occasional site tours – ranging from airport tours to subway expansion projects – providing a better understanding of projects in the field and a unique and fun experience outside the office.
The YPT International Board of Directors continues to meet monthly on the second Tuesday of each month. All members are encouraged to attend or call in to the Board of Directors meetings and to interact with the International Board and members of each chapter Board. A complete directory for the International Board of Directors is provided at the end of this report.
YPT plans to continue its partnerships with other organizations going forward, including the Women’s Transportation Seminar and the Eno Foundation, among others.
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MembershipYPT continues to grow its paid membership. Access to some of our more popular events is limited to dues-paying members, which encourages those who are interested to become members and have priority access. Those who are not dues-paying members but still choose to be part of our communication channels are YPT ‘friends’.
In response to growing information technology demands spurred by YPT’s growth and expansion into a chapter-based organization, the Board of Directors implemented a new, integrated membership database and management system. This system was a significant investment, but now fully operational a year later, it will allow YPT to begin its first large-scale membership campaign.
CommunicationsLooking for details about YPT as an organization, or the chapter in your city? Bookmark YPT International online at yptransportation.org. This central hub for all things YPT includes information about existing chapters, how to get involved, upcoming events, the latest issue of Mobility Matters, Twitter feed, blog posts, board information, the members’ portal, and many other things.
Mobility Matters, our ongoing long-form magazine, published two issues in 2012-2013 after a short hiatus. Find it on the website at yptransportation.org/mobility-matters.
Meanwhile, YPT Voice, the blog for Young Professionals in Transportation (available on the homepage of yptransportation.org) regularly published stories, opportunities, and chapter news throughout the year. Among our most popular posts, our communications team held Q&A sessions with prominent transportation professionals, including TRB Executive Director Robert Skinner and Executive Director of the CCTA Randy Iwasaki.
Looking for an upcoming YPT event in your area? The majority of upcoming YPT events across the country can now be found in one central location: the YPT calendar on the YPT website at yptransportation.org/calendar.
Viewing YPT photos got a bit easier, with the new YPT Flickr account. Of course, YPT can always be found on traditional social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, all of which we continuously strive to improve.
YPT LA tour of ATSAC
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As a new and rapidly-growing international organization aimed at providing professional development guidance, fellowship, and networking opportunities for young professionals in the transportation field, your generous financial support of YPT will ensure that we can play a critical role in developing and shaping young leaders for generations to come.
In 2014, YPT will continue to reach out to existing sponsors and carry out a formal capital campaign to secure the resources and funding necessary to continue to grow and sustain YPT.
YPT offers a wide range of exciting business-supporting and business-friendly opportunities. Reaching YPT’s members can have value to any agency or company looking to grow staff or tap the expertise and drive of young professionals in the field.
SponsorshipFor more information about sponsorship opportunities, please contact:
Emma Chapman International Vice Chair for Sponsorship (312) 725-2093 [email protected]
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Thank you to our 2012-2013 sponsors for all that you made possible:young professionals in transportation
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Young Professionals Reception at TRB
2013 National Board of DirectorsKatherine Kortum, YPT ChairTransportation Research Board
Brittney Kohler, Deputy ChairAmerican Society of Civil Engineers
Stephanie Dock Vice Chair for Administration District of Columbia DOT
Alexandra MalikovaVice Chair for CommunicationMTA New York City Transit
Bud McDonald, Vice Chair for FinanceAASHTO
Aimee Custis, Vice Chair for MembershipCoalition for Smarter Growth
Sophie Guiny, Vice Chair for ProgramsBooz Allen Hamilton
Candace BrakewoodDirector at Large - Chapter DevelopmentGeorgia Tech
Alek PochowskiDirector at Large - SponsorshipKittelson & Associates
2014 National Board of DirectorsKatherine Kortum, YPT ChairTransportation Research [email protected]
Candace Brakewood, Deputy ChairGeorgia Tech [email protected]
Boris Lipkin, Vice Chair for Administration Parsons [email protected]
Melissa Chow, Vice Chair for [email protected]
Andy House, Vice Chair for [email protected]
Stephanie Dock, Vice Chair for MembershipDistrict of Columbia [email protected]
Brittney Kohler, Vice Chair for ProgramsAmerican Society of Civil [email protected]
Nikola IvanovVice Chair for Chapter DevelopmentUMD Center for Advanced Transportation Technology [email protected]
Emma ChapmanVice Chair for SponsorshipParsons [email protected]
YPT Leadership
Bud WrightExecutive Director, AASHTO
Mort DowneyChairman, Parsons Brinckerhoff
Emil FrankelBipartisan Policy Center
Jane GarveyNorth American Chairman, Meridian Infrastructure
Jonathan GiffordProfessor and Associate Dean for GMU’s Transportation Policy, Operations & Logistics Masters Program
Art GuzzettiVice President for Policy, APTA
Janet F. KavinokyExecutive Director of Transportation & Infrastructure, US Chamber of Commerce
Mary PetersFormer Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation
Joshua SchankPresident and CEO, Eno Center for Transportation
Bob SkinnerExecutive Director, Transportation Research Board
2012-2013 Board of Advisors
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http://yptransportation.org/