ALC ‘18 Transportation Braintrust promotes a stronger tech and multimodal workforce for U.S.

WASHINGTON //BDPA-DC// — The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) Annual Legislative Conference (ALC) of 2018 featured a very dynamic session on transportation with significant technical and critical infrastructure overtones. This year’s panel discussion entitled, “Workforce Development and Emerging Technologies” was sponsored by Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland 7th District). The panel, shown below, included former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater as our moderator; MWAA CEO Jack Potter; Lyft senior public policy manager Rena Davis; WMATA director Nalini Mani; Purple Line Transit Partners CEO Fred Craig; HNTB Mid-Atlantic President Diana Mendes; and Telva McGruder, president of the General Motors African Ancestry Network (GMAAN) and director of facility engineering and manufacturing operations.

CBCF’s Transportation Braintrust was conceived over 20 years ago to provide a forum during the CBCF ALC for the top-level exchange of information and ideas between key leaders and experts in the transportation industry. This program has grown significantly under the guidance and sponsorship of Rep. Cummings and the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) leadership.

After this session, Telva McGruder (left) told NNPA Newswire that General Motors (GM) is now at a point where they have African American Ancestry employees at higher levels in “effectively all of our business functions.”  GM’s new vision is a future with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion—BDPA and COMTO attendees realize GM cannot accomplish their vision without software and new applications.  Rena Davis, Lyft’s senior policy manager, reemphasized to bdpatoday that through Lyft Concierge, a web-based ride-dispatching platform, industry now has access to new tools that bring transportation services to new customers and underserved communities. Moreover, “Smart City” digital transformations and multimodal convergence of shared transportation opportunities will yield significant career opportunities for BDPA and COMTO members.

– Sources with GM and  bdpatoday photos: NNPA and BDPADC