Session No. 4F

Mentorship Matters: Best Practices for Senior Staff Serving as a Mentor   

This panel discussion will feature three senior staff from around the country who are recognized as leaders in mentoring. They’ll share their outlooks on approaching mentorship, how other seasoned professionals can improve their mentorship capabilities, and solutions to the challenges of serving as a mentor to staff you interact with virtually.

Moderator(s): Shannon Warchol, Kittelson & Associates 

• Brian L. Ray, PE, Senior Principal Engineer, Kittelson & Associates, Inc.       
• Bob Taylor, PE, PTOE, Chief Technology Officer, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
• Katharine E. Kelleman, CEO, Port Authority of Allegheny County  

Bios 

Brian Ray is a senior transportation professional with 35 years consulting experience. His last 26 years have been at Kittelson & Associates, Inc. Ray received lots of guidance and support as a student and emerging engineer and it’s been a passion of his to return the investment and help others. In addition to his project work at Kittelson, Ray is passionate about helping individuals chart their career path, is active in onboarding new staff to Kittelson, and enjoys coaching and mentoring others.

Bob Taylor is the Chief Technology Officer at the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In this role, Taylor focuses on the use of technology and innovation to improve the customer experience, safety and mobility as well as to enable and modernize business operations.  Prior to that, Taylor served as the Turnpike’s Manager of Traffic Operations and work at a large consulting firm for more than 20 years. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Penn State.

Katharine Kelleman serves as chief executive officer of Port Authority of Allegheny County, the public transit system serving the Pittsburgh region. Katharine often tells her staff and community to dream big — and she means it. She sets her sights high for herself and her team and, most importantly, she follows through. Whether it was becoming the youngest director in the Baltimore transit system, the youngest Chief at the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) in Tampa, Fla, being the first female with young kids to be the CEO at the Port Authority, or being in the top 10 for the American Taekwondo Association’s World Standings female black belts in 2003, she exceeds her goals and leads her team to do the same. Since joining Port Authority in 2018 as CEO, Kelleman has focused on providing safe, reliable, and more affordable and accessible transit service to the Pittsburgh region. She has established better communication with customers, fought to find creative and incremental solutions for a more equitable fare system, and championed the development of a 25-year plan for the agency. As the 15th biggest bus agency and one of the top 25 biggest transit agencies in the country, Port Authority provides critical service to the region which has been highlighted throughout the pandemic. Kelleman’s leadership at Port Authority during this tumultuous time enabled the agency to rapidly adapt to serve the community. During this time, Port Authority continued to gather robust community feedback despite social distancing, instituted more rigorous cleaning protocols system wide, and created a national award winning “Room2Ride” Program that uses previous weeks’ data to help riders determine which bus during the day is likely to have room for them during pandemic restrictions. Kelleman received her bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and her master’s degree in public administration from San Angelo State University. She serves on the Board of Directors for the American Public Transit Association, local United Way, as well as WTS International.