Justine Sydello

“I’m inspired to use transportation as a strategy to achieve quality of life and economic goals,” says Justine Sydello, CDM Smith’s transportation policy leader. “Transportation touches everyone’s life every single day, even if you don’t own a car or take transit.”

Justine has dedicated her career to helping improve people’s lives through the development and implementation of effective public policies using her expertise in strategic planning, program management, transportation, and communications. She works regularly with elected officials and key stakeholders, delivering high-quality results across a variety of transportation policy areas.

Justine previously served as deputy secretary for the Illinois Department of Transportation, where she led a connected and autonomous vehicles initiative that included establishing an interagency working group, rollout of a public roads testing program, development of a 10-year vision and work plan, and evaluation of policies, regulations, and laws for deployment of CAVs and related technologies, such as truck platooning.

“I am really drawn to CDM Smith’s proactive approach to anticipating and planning for disruptive technologies, such as driverless and electric cars and mobility as a service. It’s one thing to talk about how much transportation can change in the coming years and decades, but it’s another to start adapting scenario plans and modeling tools now so public agencies can adequately prepare for the future and all the new possibilities that technology will unlock,” she says.