WTS International, the association for the professional advancement of women in transportation, elected Beverley K. Swaim-Staley, President and CEO of Union Station Redevelopment Corporation (USRC), to the position of Vice Chair of its board of directors.
The position, left vacant when the board’s previous vice chair, Dana Hook, P.E., Vice President at CDM Smith, moved into the position of Chair in 2012.
As President of URSC, Swaim-Staley leads the development and implementation of a comprehensive master plan for Union Station in Washington, DC. Prior to her role there, she served as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) for three years. She was the first woman to serve as Maryland Transportation Secretary with 10,000 employees and a $3.6 billion annual budget. As Secretary, Swaim-Staley oversaw the only state department of transportation with direct supervision over all aspects of transportation including the state’s highway, transit and rail networks, motor vehicles, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), and the Port of Baltimore. From 2001through 2002, while serving as Deputy Secretary of Transportation for Maryland, Swaim-Staley also served as Executive Director of BWI during the terrorist strike on 9/11 and the subsequent revolution in airport security.
In addition to electing Swaim-Staley to the Vice Chair position, WTS International has named her its prestigious 2013 Woman of the Year, which will be awarded during the association’s flagship event, the WTS Annual Conference, next month in Philadelphia. The conference attracts nearly 500 corporate and governmental industry leaders worldwide, including executives, CEOs, government administrators, and leading engineering authorities. Keynote speakers and breakout session leaders will include Gloria Steinem, the iconic leader of the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s, Dr. Mae Jemison, the first black woman to go into space and NASA’s first Science Mission Specialist, and Robin Chase, founder of the Zipcar and Buzzcar companies.
