Capabilities of the SCR Consulting Team

This document provides experience and skill summaries of the seven-person SCR team which stands ready to assist Vulcan and SAFE support the USDOT Smart City Demonstration. The team described is a friendly, energetic, well-traveled group of skilled professionals who will help the seven finalist cities write high-quality proposals that “provide safety improvements, enhance mobility, increase ladders of opportunity by incentivizing reinvestment in underserved communities, reduce energy usage, and address climate change,” as required by the USDOT’s second phase NOFO. We are already collectively active in advising cities and other organizations nationwide and around the world on technical and policy issues in transportation that overlap Smart City goals:

Steve Marshall, Executive Director, Center for Advanced Transportation and Energy Solutions, Mercer Island, WA | attorney, former electric utility executive, and electric vehicle expert

Steve Marshall is Executive Director of the Center for Advanced Transportation and Energy Solutions (CATES), a Seattle-based think tank. He is a former utility executive and utility chief legal counsel with extensive experience in both the public and private utility sectors. He has been a leading advocate in moving from oil to electricity in transportation as well as other advanced transportation solutions. Steve was a member of the Edison Electric Institute’s legal committee and regularly writes and speaks on issues and strategies for the electrification of transportation, including strategies on needed reforms of utility regulation.  He spoke on the electrification of the transportation system at the most recent American Public Power Association conference in October. Steve is a coauthor of Plug-in Electric Vehicles published by the Brooking Institute and a coauthor of a chapter in the book Road Vehicle Automation (Springer, 2014) on the combination of automated, connected and electric vehicles. He organized and moderated a series of conferences that become known as “Beyond Oil,” and organized and moderated a conference last October on Advanced Transportation Technologies, to be held again this summer.

John Niles, President, Global Telematics, Seattle | telematics, public transit, and automation expert

John is founder and president of the independent policy consultancy Global Telematics focused on research, design, planning and evaluation of policies and actions for transportation improvement with clients including federal, state, and local government agencies, universities, and corporations. He is a co-founder with Steve Marshall of the CATES nonprofit think-tank and serves as its Research Director.  His most recent research projects are on the productivity implications of transit rider acquisition at park & ride lots as a Research Associate with Mineta Transportation Institute (San Jose State University), and on strategies for accelerated deployment of transportation as a service (TaaS) using automated vehicles, as a principal in Grush Niles Associates. He is a long-standing member of the Puget Sound Freight Mobility Roundtable.  He has served as an aviation quality assurance officer in the U.S. Navy, and is a graduate of MIT and Carnegie Mellon University.

Doug MacDonald, retired Washington State Secretary of Transportation, Seattle | public policy analysis, performance measurement, and program design

Doug served 2001 to 2007 as Secretary of Transportation for Washington State before turning to private advisory work. He has deep knowledge and skill in how to implement new transportation programs by working with local, state and federal agencies. Earlier, he spent nine years as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority working to clean up Boston Harbor.  He has undergraduate and law school degrees from Harvard University, and served two years in Africa for the Peace Corps. Since moving to Seattle from the state capital, he has participated with agencies in providing solutions on a variety of projects and issues involving transportation and transit, land use and environmental policy, including pedestrian accommodations and communication of government performance information to the public.  He has maintained a strong interest in safety throughout his career, as demonstrated by managing the construction of the second Tacoma Narrows Suspension Bridge to be on time, on budget, and achieving a record of zero workplace fatalities.

Dr. Richard Mudge, President, Compass Transportation and Technology, Potomac, MD | transportation economics, finance, and policy expert with experience in drafting proposals

Dick has held a series of transportation consulting positions.  His work usually involves the changing market place for transportation, with a focus on the effects of new technology. When prepared for public sector clients, these studies usually assess economic and social impacts.  As part of current planning work for Northern Virginia, he prepared a memo on “What’s New in Transportation.”  This covered autonomous vehicles, new forms of shared mobility, new urban institutions, telecommunications, and changing values for travelers.  He has a successful track record in responding to federal RFPs. Dick holds a Ph.D. in Regional Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and previously ran the transportation policy group at the Congressional Budget Office and worked at the RAND Corporation in New York City.

Paul Minett, CEO, Trip Convergence Ltd, Auckland, NZ | expert on ridesharing and business strategy

Paul is the Co-Founder, President and CEO of Trip Convergence Ltd, a commercial venture established to leverage the opportunity presented by flexible carpooling, as well as a founder of the Ridesharing Institute, a think tank with members worldwide. He has been funded by the U.S. Transportation Research Board IDEA program on ridesharing system design. His vision is for a Smart City that understands the value of drivers who choose to be passengers and manages the use of its transport system to maximize their number.  This has led him to develop and adapt systems and technologies that support safe, effective ridesharing and what he calls “passengership.” He has an Executive MBA from Auckland University, and has held roles in finance, customer research, and strategy development. In addition to his ridesharing activities Paul operates a business strategy consultancy, Strategic Lift Ltd.

Bern Grush, Principal, Grush Niles Associates, Toronto | automated vehicle and parking technology expert

Bern is an entrepreneur, innovator and author specializing in parking reform, road pricing and applications for self-driving vehicles. He has developed multiple patents and technologies for telemetrics for autonomous road tolling, self-paid parking, HOT tolling and usage-based insurance. His work with ISO standards included the innovation and launch of the charging-performance standard, ISO-TS-17444, for autonomous road and parking tolling systems. Bern has published over 100 articles and 300 blog essays regarding road and parking pricing and autonomous vehicles. He co-authors the EndOfDriving.org site to promote accessible, public fleets of self-driving vehicles, emphasizing deployment patterns that support equity in community mobility. He is a frequent keynote speaker and workshop designer/participant. Bern holds a Masters in Systems Design Engineering from University of Waterloo.

Tony Billera, Project Manager for SCSS participation in the Smart City program, Whidbey Island, WA | project management specialist, wireless technology subject expert, and environmental policy specialist

Tony is a PMP certified, deeply experienced collaborative team leader and product owner, in project management, operations, product and technology development. He has two decades of private sector experience in the telecommunications, software, and wireless industries doing project management planning and deployment with both internal and external partners. Lately, he has committed extensive volunteer hours to Carbon Washington, working on decarbonization of energy use in the state.  He has strong collaboration, relationship, and communication skills and he practices Total Quality Management, and agile development using Project Management Institute methodology. He earned his MBA from Willamette University, Atkinson Graduate School of Management, and has a marketing degree from Lehigh University.