ITE-ANZ Executive Board 2020

The Executive Board of the ITEANZ comprises volunteers from the Transport industry throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Nick Szwed

President

Nick Szwed

Nick is an experienced Road Safety and Sustainable Transport Consultant. He is skilled in Traffic Engineering, Road Safety Audit, Feasibility Studies, Economic Evaluation, Sustainable Transport and Transport Planning. He qualified with a BE(Civil) and MEngSc from the University of Melbourne and has worked in the road safety and traffic engineering field for over 40 years. Much of this has been at VicRoads and its predecessors.

He is currently semi-retired and occasionally provides consulting services in the areas of traffic engineering, road safety and sustainable transport to Local Government, VicRoads and Universities.

Nick joined the ITE-ANZ Executive Board in 2009 and was Secretary from 2010 to 2013. He has been President since 2014. He is currently focussing on nurturing student and young professional participation in ITE related activities.

Sarah Zhang

Co-Vice President

SarahZhang

Sarah is a passionate transport planning consultant who loves to help her clients find solutions. She specialises in transport and pedestrian planning, with project experience encompassing transit stations, arts and culture, stadia, and commercial buildings. She has worked on a range of high profile public and private sector projects in Melbourne, Sydney and New York. Sarah’s international reach and experience in transport and pedestrian planning is due to her vast travelling experience across five continents, and living experience in three continents.

Sarah is currently the Chair of Women in Engineering, Sydney. She is the recipient of the 2018 Institution of Transportation Engineer’s Emerging Professional Award for ANZ, the 2017 Engineers Australia Young Professional Engineer Award for NSW, a pedestrian panellist for the Sydney Olympic Park Design Review Panel, and the pedestrian representative in City of Sydney’s Local Pedestrian, Cycling and Traffic Calming Committee.

Cassie Min

Co-Vice President

Cassandra Min

Cassandra Min is a Monash University student currently completing a double degree in Civil Engineering and Architectural Design.

Cassandra’s interests lie in transport and traffic engineering as well as sustainability. She is currently President of Transport Engineers at Monash, a Student Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. In this role, she is involved in the overall strategic planning of the chapter within Monash University, which connects members with other like-minded students and established industry professionals to motivate, empower and encourage the next generation of professionals entering the transport industry. She sits on the International Student Membership Committee of ITE.

Cassandra joined the ITE-ANZ Executive Board in 2018.

David Nash

Secretary​

David Nash

David has over 30 years experience in traffic and transport engineering through his work at VicRoads. David left VicRoads in 2012 and formed a consulting firm called Traffinity. David’s main interests are traffic control devices – traffic signals, signs, markings and street lighting. His last position at VicRoads was Manager-Road and Traffic Standards where he was responsible for policy, standards and guidelines for all manner of traffic management issues.

He is currently lecturing at Swinburne University in Transport Engineering and undertaking many varied projects around the country.

David joined the Board in 2012 and has enjoyed being able to contribute more time to the continued development of the profession.

Daniel Gaschk

Assistant secretary

Daniel Gaschk BW

Daniel graduated from the University of Melbourne in 2013 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours in Civil). Daniel has experience in the field of traffic engineering and road safety, having been involved in a variety of traffic and transport related projects at Trafficworks Pty Ltd after joining the company in 2016. Previously, he gained experience in project management as National Asset Coordinator for Coles Services over two years.

Daniel joined the board in 2018 after his involvement in presenting at the ITE Transport Engineer Careers seminar and is excited to contribute further to the field of Transport Engineering.

Eric Ye

Treasurer

Eric Ye

Eric graduated from The University of Sydney in 2017 with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering and Bachelor of Commerce (Finance). He is currently working as a transport consultant at GTA, primarily involved in car park and road design for a range of clients from private developers to government agencies.
Eric joined the ITE-ANZ Executive Board after being awarded the GHD Undergraduate Student Award in 2017 for his honours thesis, “Lane Distribution Optimisation of Autonomous Vehicles for Highway Congestion Control”.

Daniel Przychodzki

ITE Global District Director

Washington DC photographers political diplomatic event portrait photography. Copyright 2020  by Marty Katz.
http://washingtonphotographer.com

Daniel Przychodzki is the Team Leader – Transport at the City of Greater Dandenong, Victoria. With over 20 years of experience working as a professional Engineer, including senior roles within RACV, VicRoads and Local Government, Daniels skills broadly cover Traffic and Transport Management, Road Safety, Strategic Transport Planning and Project Management.

Daniel first joined the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) as a Student Member in 1998, and became an Associate Member not long after he graduated in 1999. Now a Member of ITE, he has held a position on the ITE Australian and New Zealand Section Executive Board since 2001. Daniel has occupied the positions of Section Secretary in 2004 and 2005, Vice President in 2006, President in 2007 through to 2009 and is currently the ITE Global District Director representing all members outside of North America on the International Board of Direction.

Laura Aston

Diversity and Inclusion Lead

Laura_Aston

Laura is currently undertaking her PhD at Monash University as part of the Public Transport Research Group., exploring the relationship between the built environment and public transport use. Her research interests include sustainable travel behaviour and transport and land use integration. Laura’s professional and academic pursuits are driven by an interest in the role of transportation in achieving sustainable objectives in the urban realm. Prior to joining Monash, Laura gained experience in sustainability consulting in the private sector, and as a transport planner for the Victorian State Government. Laura is also interested in communicating knowledge about inclusive and resilient transport. She is also host of the Researching Transit podcast, a production of the Monash University Public Transport Research Group.

Marianne Richards

Mentoring Coordinator, Newsletter Editor and Executive Board Member

Marianne Richards

Marianne retired from the Victorian Public Service in 2016 after a town planning career of 38 years in the public sector in Victoria and South Australia. She has extensive knowledge and experience in port, airport and freight network planning and development issues across all levels of Australian governments. Marianne’s interests include application of transport and land use planning policy and development frameworks, processes and initiatives across economic, social and environmental issues; and implementing practical outcomes in land use planning policy frameworks for the long term sustainability of airports, ports and freight networks. Marianne participated in the development of national and state aviation, port and freight network strategies.
Marianne has a Bachelor of Arts (Monash University), a Graduate Diploma of Town Planning (South Australian Institute of Technology) and a Graduate Certificate of Business Administration (Mt Eliza Business School). Marianne has been an active member of ITE since joining in 2017. She is currently ITE-ANZ Board member liaising with the TEM Mentoring Program, editor of the ITE-ANZ Newsletter and a member of the ITE Urban Goods Movement Standing Committee.

Marianne has a Bachelor of Arts (Monash University), a Graduate Diploma of Town Planning (South Australian Institute of Technology) and a Graduate Certificate of Business Administration (Mt Eliza Business School).

John Smelt

Executive Board Member

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John has enjoyed more than 40 years of professional activity. He worked at VicRoads and its predecessor organisations for over 26 years in the areas of traffic engineering and management, including traffic signal systems, transport planning, traffic and transport data analysis and modelling and business improvement projects.
He also worked at the Victorian Ministry of Transport on public transport and road planning projects from 1982 to 1984.
In 2001 he joined the Victorian Government’s Planning Agency, becoming involved in regional and rural strategic planning, land supply assessment, demographic assessment, transport planning, activity centre planning in metropolitan and regional areas.
In 2012, he retired from the regular workforce, but remains keen to be involved in a wide range of transport and land use activities and professional development.
John has a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Master of Engineering Science from Monash University and a Graduate Diploma of Rural and Regional Planning from Latrobe University.

Don McKenzie

Executive Board Member

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Don is the Private Sector Transportation Leader for Stantec New Zealand’s transportation business based in in Auckland, NZ. Don has been involved in the transportation engineering consultancy profession over 25 years spanning a range of project-based commissions in both the public and private development sectors. He regularly appears as an expert witness in Council and Environment Court processes, and has contributed to the transportation professional in a range of roles.
Don is a father of two adult children and is married to Catherine.
He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the University of Canterbury and has over 25 years of professional experience in the traffic engineering profession in New Zealand. He has been a member of ITE since 2003, is a Fellow of ITE, the immediate past Global District Director of ITE and has been active within the Engineering NZ Transportation Group in New Zealand.

Ken Hall

Executive Board Member

Ken Hall

Ken has had over 35 years in road transport with specialist knowledge in road safety and traffic management. Following a long career at VicRoads where his last position was Manager Road Safety Engineering, Ken is now consulting. He has a particular interest in assisting the development of sound road transport policy and strategies by utilising the best available information and research and also in developing individuals and organisations to deliver road transport services. In addition to his consulting work Ken has lectured in transport at Victoria University and is a mentor to students in the RMIT MBA program.

Ken has degrees in Civil Engineering and Economics and a Master of Business Qualification (Management).

Sara Moridpour

Executive Board Member

Sara Moridpour

Sara holds a bachelor of civil engineering and received her masters and PhD degrees in transportation and traffic engineering. She has 15 years of work and research experience in the field of traffic and transportation. She has been working in the School of Engineering at RMIT University, from 2010.

Sara is highly engaged in a range of research and professional activities within and beyond RMIT. She has published numerous journal papers, and presented in many prestigious conferences in traffic/transport engineering. She has served as technical and organising committee member of different conferences and editorial board member of journals. She has been invited to speak at traffic/transport conferences, workshops and symposiums.

Richard Tay

Executive Board Member

Richard_Tay

Professor Richard Tay, CPEng, is the VC Senior Research Fellow in the School of Business IT & Logistics. He has previously taught at University of Melbourne, La Trobe University and Queensland University of Technology as well as universities in Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, and was a visiting scholar at MIT.

He has completed many research and consultancy projects in road safety, transport economics, and evaluation of transportation programs and policies. He has been invited to serve on many government panels, committees & task forces on road safety in Australia and around the world. He serves on the editorial board of several scientific journals and has been invited to speak at and has chaired technical sessions at many road safety conferences around the world.

He is a Fellow and Life Member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers and a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transportation.

Kenn Beer

Executive Board Member

Kenn Beer

Kenn is the Principal of Safe System Solutions Pty Ltd – a specialist road safety engineering consultancy that he founded in 2013. Throughout his career, Kenn has worked in delivery, development, planning and program roles within VicRoads. Kenn has also had roles advising governments of the Philippines, California, New Zealand and all States of Australia on complex road safety issues. Kenn is an Austroads project manager, sits on the Victorian Board of the Australasian College of Road Safety and was elected to the Engineers Australia Victorian Board of Engineering in 2010.

Kenn holds a Bachelor of Engineering, is an accredited transport planner, Senior Road Safety Auditor, facilitator and trainer. Kenn won the 2014 ITEANZ Emerging Professional Award and the ITE District 8 Rising Star Award in 2015.

Ruw Palapathwala

Strategy Lead and Executive Board Member

Ruw Palapathwala

Ruw is Co-Vice-President and one of two Marketing Communications Officers of Young ITE-ANZ (YITE). He will be responsible for liaising with external parties to seek sponsorship for the committee as well as help broaden the reach of the committees events and profile. He also serves on the ITE-ANZ senior board as the Strategy Lead where he drafted the 2020-2023 strategic framework and helps to ensure its objectives and key action areas are being reflected in the committee’s activities.

He works as a Transport Planner at Aurecon’s Melbourne office and seeks to offer support and guidance by championing a friendly and approachable demeanour. He invites anyone with a passion in transport to get involved with both the ITE-ANZ and YITE.

Matt Bennett

Executive Board Member

Bennett_Matthew

Matt Bennett is a transport planner based in Aurecon’s Melbourne office and is president of the YITE Committee. Starting from a young age, Matt has always been fascinated by all modes of transport and how best to integrate them. His involvement with the ITE began with the Australian first Student Leadership Summit in 2018. As part of the organising committee, Matt took responsibility for the pub trivia styled Traffic Bowl and aided the marketing and communication strategy. As the inaugural president of the YITE Committee, Matt aims to help establish and grow a strong global network with fellow transport enthusiasts.

Seyed Arash Fatemi

Executive Board Member and Webmaster

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Arash is a transport modelling consultant at Ontoit focusing on the development of mesoscopic and microscopic traffic simulation models to evaluate the impact of future scenarios on transport network. He has a bachelors degree in Civil Engineering and graduated from Monash University with a Master’s degree in Transport Engineering in 2018. 

As the webmaster of ITE-ANZ he has the opportunity to combine his web design skills with transport topics and learn from both leader and peers in the industry. Prior to joining the ITE-ANZ Executive Board in 2018, he was a member of the Student Leadership Summit committee.

Ben Thomson

Communications Officer

Ben Thomson-cv-col

Ben is a Traffic Engineer at Ratio Consultants, based in Melbourne Australia, involved in the initial design and planning stage of developing our cities and spaces. With experience spanning both in New Zealand as a Contractor and now as a Consultant, he understands the importance of being able to build the plans being designed. Ben has a strong passion for multi-modal transport networks and how we rebalance the mobility equation for people to thrive in their towns and cities.

Ben’s initial involvement came through regular attendance at the ITE-ANZ seminars held on a variety of transport topics. Encouraged by the moves made by the ITE-ANZ, Ben is involved for the third year as a mentor in the joint ITE-ANZ and Traffic Engineers Monash (TEM) mentoring program. As a strong social media user, Ben has seen the opportunity to contribute to the ITE-ANZ through the communications role the ITEANZ.

Tabitha Yeoh

Communications Officer

Tabitha Yeoh

Tabitha is a Transport Planner at Jacobs. She is part of the Melbourne office’s Transport Planning team. In her role she has developed skills in transport planning, modelling and data analysis; through having worked on a variety of projects involving road, public transport, heavy vehicle, cycling, pedestrian and precinct planning.

Tabitha has a great passion for transport and cities, which she developed while completing her Bachelor of Urban Planning and Design degree from the University of Melbourne and working as a Transport Planner. Tabitha believes that her involvement in the ITE-ANZ  Members Committee will enable her to become more active in the transport industry and contribute towards providing both young professionals and students with more opportunities to network and learn about transport

Jeyashivraj Parthiban (Jey)

Executive Board Member

Jeyashivraj Parthiban

I am a final year Monash university student pursuing a double degree in Civil Engineering and Economics. I have been involved in the activities of ITE since my 2nd year, when the student chapter at Monash University was set up. I served as the ITE liaison in the student committee and later became President of the student chapter, a position I held in 2019. I also work at a road safety consultancy called Safe System Solutions as an undergraduate engineer. I’m glad to be involved with the ITE because it provides me the opportunity to meet like-minded professions from different backgrounds and institutions. Moreover, it provides me the opportunity to learn more about the transport profession.

Ashim Debnath

Executive Board Member

Photo taken by Stephen McKenzie (0425 846 182) on September 20, 2018.

Dr Ashim Debnath is a Senior Lecturer (Transportation Engineering) and Course Director (Bachelor of Civil Engineering – Honours, Master of Infrastructure Engineering and Management) at Deakin University. He is passionate about training future Transportation engineers through his teaching and research activities.
Ashim is an expert in road safety, roadworks, and traffic management research. With active collaboration and partnerships with the transport industry, he leads a dynamic group of researchers at Deakin University working in various areas of Transportation Engineering, including road safety evaluation, traffic simulation, vulnerable road user safety (cyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians), and advanced statistical modelling of transport data. In these areas, he has led many research projects commissioned by leading transport agencies in Australia, including Austroads, VIC Department of Transportation, QLD Transport and Main Roads, and NSW Roads and Maritime Services.
Ashim holds invited memberships in international committees, including committees of the US Transportation Research Board. He is also an Associate Editor of the journals: Transportation Research Record, and the Journal of Navigation.
More details here
Interested to join Ashim’s research group? Email ashim.debnath@deakin.edu.au

Bishoy Abdelmesseh

Executive Board Member

Bishoy Abdelmesseh

Bishoy is an undergraduate Civil Engineer working as a Transport & Traffic Data Analyst at Austraffic. He is highly engaged in processing and analysing a range of traffic surveys at Austraffic such as Intersection & Pedestrian Turning Movement, Origin-Destination, Travel Time, Parking Studies and Speed & Classification surveys. 

Bishoy is currently completing his final semester of Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Honours) at Victoria University with a current GPA of 6.4 out of 7. He hopes to endeavour further into the field of Transport Engineering. He has joined the ITE-ANZ Executive Board in 2019