Board of Directors

PRESIDENT

Ronald Chicka
Director, Duluth-Superior Metropolitan Interstate Council, Duluth, MN

Ron Chicka has served as the Director of the Metropolitan Interstate Council (MIC), the MPO for the Duluth – Superior metropolitan area since 1998. He began with the MIC in 1995 as a Senior Planner. Prior to this he was employed with the City of Janesville (WI) Planning Department as the MPO Coordinator from 1990 to 1995. Ron has a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Kansas (specialty in transportation and land use) and an undergraduate degree in Geography from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a member of the American Planning Association and is certified by American Institute of Certified Planners. Ron has presented the MICs work at a number of regional, state and national conferences/workshops including (at the national level): AMPO, Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the National Association of Development Organizations.Additional Member Committees:

• Association of Metropolitan Planning Organization – Board of Directors
• TRB ADA-30 – Transportation for Small and Medium-Sized Communities
• TRB – National Cooperative Freight Research Program Report 17: Freight Transportation within the Great Lakes – Saint Lawrence Basin – 2012
• U.S. DOT – Federal Highway Administration: Modeling and Analysis Needs and Resources for Small Metropolitan Area Transportation Planning: Report on a Peer Exchange – September 2012
• AASHTO-CTPP Oversight Committee

VICE PRESIDENT

Ashby Johnson
Executive Director, Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization,  Austin, TX

Ashby Johnson is the Executive Director of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) which is the metropolitan planning organization for the six-county central Texas region and has served in that capacity since August 2014. Ashby also served as the Deputy MPO Director at the Houston-Galveston Area Council, which is the transportation planning agency for the eight-county greater Houston region for the preceding 11 years. Prior to H-GAC, he spent eight years with the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Planning and one year with the Federal Transit Administration’s Office of Planning. Prior to USDOT, Ashby spent five years with the Texas Department of Transportation in the Environmental Affairs Division. He holds a Bachelors degree in Government and a Masters in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin.

TREASURER

Gregory Stuart
Executive Director, Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization (Southeast Florida)

Greg brings more than 32 years of transportation, land use planning and logistics experience in both private and public sectors. Greg currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations and the National Association of Regional Councils Executive Directors Council, elected nationally. He is Chair of the Florida MPO Advisory Council (MPOAC) Staff Directors Advisory Committee and the MPOAC Freight Committee. In his spare time, Greg is the Chair of the City of Fort Lauderdale’s Transportation Management Agency, a transit provider, with an annual ridership exceeding 650,000 passengers. Greg also spent his formative years working in logistics related to the manufacturing of the IBM Personal Computers in Boca Raton.

SECRETARY

Pragati Srivastava
Director, Memphis Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), Memphis, TN

Pragati Srivastava  has served as the Director of the Memphis MPO since 2011 and is responsible for multimodal Long Range Transportation Planning for the Memphis MPO region. She serves more than 1 million residents of the Memphis MPO region and works closely with the 29 member Policy Board, comprising of various local, State and Federal agencies. She formerly served as the Principal Transportation Planner for the Memphis MPO where she was responsible for managing the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) and managed various transportation planning studies. Pragati received a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture and Master’s Degree in Urban and Rural Planning from India. Additionally, she also holds a Master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas, at Austin.

BOARD MEMBER AND TECHNICAL COMMITTEE LIAISON 

Reese Brewer
MPO Director, Frontier MPO, Ft. Smith, AR

Reese acts as the MPO director of the Frontier Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Fort Smith area. She successfully led efforts to implement bike share, integrate health into the design of transportation infrastructure, and ensure communities in the region have improved access to local parks. In addition, she wrote and received the inaugural Parsons Smart Cities Transforming Intersection Challenge on behalf of the City of Fort Smith and the Arkansas Department of Transportation. She has served on the Eno Center for Transportation’s Freight Funding and Finance group and was a contributor to the Eno Center for Transportation paper, “Delivering the Goods: Recommendations for Funding a Federal Freight Program, along with serving on Transportation Research Board Committees. While the focus of her work is in transportation planning and freight infrastructure, Reese received her Master of Science in Intermodal Transportation Management from the University of Denver, obtained certificates from the University of Maryland Senior Management Operations Academy, I-95 Corridor Coalition Freight Academy, and attended the Florida Coastal School of Law studying Transportation Law & Policy.

BOARD MEMBER AND POLICY COMMITTEE LIAISON

Matt Johns
Executive Director, Rapides Area Planning Commission, Alexandria, LA

Matt Johns has 16 years of planning experience between the Rapides Area Planning Commission and the Louisiana DOTD. He is currently the Executive Director of the Rapides Area Planning Commission, a member of the Louisiana Planning Council, and on the board of directors for the Louisiana Transportation Authority as well as the Louisiana Community Development Authority. He also serves as vice-chairman of the policy committee for AMPO and serves on multiple committees for the Transportation Research Board. Since joining RAPC, Matt has led the expansion of the MPO from 5 staff members to 19 – accompanied by an annual operating budget that grew from $250,000 to $2.5 million per year. This was accomplished by offering technical assistance to surrounding jurisdictions, providing the expertise of RAPC’s talented staff to assist almost any need – transportation related or otherwise. Matt has a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration from Louisiana College and obtained his professional planning certification from the American Institute of Certified Planners.

BOARD MEMBER

Todd Lang
Director of Transportation Planning, Baltimore Metropolitan Council, Baltimore, MD

Todd Lang is the Director of Transportation Planning at the Baltimore Metropolitan Council which serves as staff to the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization representing the 2.6 million residents of the Baltimore Region. As Director, Mr. Lang oversees the MPO work program including development of the region’s short and long range transportation plans and the recently completed fifty year regional visioning process. Mr. Lang has a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering, a Master’s in Business Administration (Finance) and a Certificate in Environmental Planning. He is a registered Professional Engineer and is a Certified Planner. Mr. Lang also currently serves on the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Metropolitan Planning Subcommittee.

BOARD MEMBER

Tegin Teich
Executive Director, Boston Region MPO, Boston, MA

Tegin Teich is the Executive Director of the Central Transportation Planning Staff (CTPS) to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) in Boston, Massachusetts. CTPS supports the Boston Region MPO Board in developing a transportation vision for the 97 cities and towns in the region. CTPS also supports the Board’s decision-making for allocating federal dollars to transportation projects, while advancing strategies to achieve greater transparency and equity in transportation planning processes. In addition to our work directly supporting the MPO, CTPS provides transportation planning expertise to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), Regional Transit Authorities, municipalities, and other stakeholders in the region.

BOARD MEMBER

Jim Wild
Executive Director, East-West Gateway Council of Governments, St. Louis, MO

Jim Wild is the Executive Director of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, the Metropolitan Planning Organization for St. Louis, which represents the 2.6 million residents of the city of St. Louis and the surrounding seven counties in Illinois and Missouri. Jim started at East-West Gateway in 1993 as a transportation analyst and held a variety of positions before his appointment as executive director in 2015. During his 28 years at East-West Gateway, Jim’s primary responsibilities have included overseeing the council’s freight, intelligent transportation systems, bicycle/pedestrian, paratransit, and transportation safety programs as well as development and implementation of the Regional Transportation Plan and the Transportation Improvement Program. In addition to transportation, East-West Gateway developed OneSTL, the region’s sustainability plan, provides local government, research and environmental services and through its St. Louis Area Regional Response System coordinates planning and response for large-scale critical incidents. Before coming to St. Louis, Jim worked at Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, the MPO for Peoria, IL. Jim received his Bachelor of Science in Community and Regional Planning from Iowa State University.

BOARD PAST PRESIDENT

R. TODD ASHBY, AICP
CEO/Executive Director of the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Todd Ashby is the CEO/Executive Director of the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. His previous work experience includes: Account Manager for TMS Management; Senior Project Manager, Snyder & Associates; Senior Project Manager/Planner, CH2M Hill; Assistant Director of Transportation, Mid-America Regional Council in Kansas City; and Missouri Department of Transportation. He attended the University of Missouri where he received a Masters of Pubic Administration and Iowa State University where he received a Bachelor of Science in Community and Regional Planning. Todd currently serves on the boards of many organizations, including: Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations Board, National Association of Regional Council’s Executive Directors Council, : Polk County Aviation Authority Board, DSM Forward Task Force, Iowa Freight Advisory Council, Professional Advisory Committee-College of Design, Iowa State University, Cyclone Gridiron Club Board, Ankeny Kiwanis Club Board, and the Ankeny Alumni Association Board. Told also enjoys traveling with his wife Kerry, attending Iowa State sporting events, reading, and cooking.

Committees

AMPO Board Election

The Call for Interest for the 2023-2025 AMPO Board of Directors and the Technical and Policy Committees will open the summer of 2022. Stay tuned for details.