People News: ASLRRA, HDR, Transit Wireless Announce Appointments
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive EditorHerzog President Jim Hanlon has been elected to the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association’s (ASLRRA) Board of Directors; HDR promoted Sam Tso to Western Region Transportation Director; and Transit Wireless named Jyoti Mahurkar-Thombre Chief Technology Officer.
Hanlon will serve on the ASLRRA Board as a representative of Associate Business Members (suppliers; ABM), succeeding Wabtec Product Manager/SME JoAnne Miner, whose term expired. Shea McLaughlin, National Sales Director-CDL Electric Railroad Signaling Division and Serrmi Products, is also an ABM representative on the Board.
A 22-year railroad veteran, Hanlon joined Herzog in 2009 as a Systems Project Manager, and moved up the ranks to serve as Director of Special Projects, Assistant Vice President of PTC Services, Vice President of Rail Technology, and President. He started his career at CSX, working in various capacities across the Class I railroad’s Southern Region, and also worked for Southwest Signal Engineering.
“Jim will be a major asset to our Board of Directors,” ASLRRA President Chuck Baker said. “Herzog has long been a valuable contributor to our industry and our Association with deep expertise across a broad range of fields, and in particular I expect that Jim’s substantial background and experience with PTC will provide important value to the Association.”
Tso will provide strategic leadership for the continued diversification of HDR’s aviation, highways and bridges, transit, freight rail, and maritime practice areas, and for the expansion of the consulting firm’s multidisciplinary technical capabilities throughout the region, which spans from Montana, Utah and New Mexico to the Pacific coast as well as Alaska and Hawaii.
Since joining HDR in 2018, Tso has served in several leadership positions. He is the Principal-in-Charge for the Honolulu High Capacity Transit Corridor project and successfully led the pursuit of the NDOT I-11 Tier 1 EIS as Project Manager.
“Sam’s focus throughout his career has been on project delivery, many of which were large and complex, and with a variety of clients,” Transportation Group President Tom McLaughlin said. “He is the perfect fit to lead our West Region transportation program to grow clients, geographic markets and technical disciplines, all with a focus on strong project delivery.”
Mahurkar-Thombre will drive technology strategy at Transit Wireless, a BAI Communications and 5G wireless infrastructure company. She will be based in New York City.
With more than 30 years of technology experience, Mahurkar-Thombre served previously as CTO of Landis+Gyr, a smart metering technologies firm. She has also held leadership roles at Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia.
“Jyoti’s global expertise and unparalleled technical background will provide immediate value to Transit Wireless,” Transit Wireless CEO Melinda White said. “She has deep experience including a strong track-record of development and execution of forward-thinking technologies for customers across the globe.”
