Meet a Program Associate

Passionate about transit, multimodalism, and land use planning, Will has been working with the National Center for Mobility Management since November 2019.

Will has always been passionate about mobility, whether that be in rural America or in cities across Latin America. Growing up in rural Maryland imprinted the importance of mobility access for all. “Being surrounded by cornfields instead of easily accessible friends and family was an isolating experience that I thought was the status quo for everyone. Miles from the nearest store or town, this was especially noticeable in the case of my grandmother, who never had a driver’s license or car. She relied on family and friends to get around just as I did before I moved to Washington, DC. These experiences have cemented the importance of the programs we all work on,” Will said about why he has made his career in mobility.  

Graduating from American University with a focus on transportation in Latin America, Will loves to look abroad for answers to the mobility problems we face at home. “America is great at a lot of things, which can lead us to blind ourselves to the great things happening in the rest of the world. I think it’s crucial to look abroad and see what innovations or existing services we can adapt to fit our communities. Working with numerous NCMM grantees has exhibited the importance of thinking outside the box, and sometimes that means looking at how communities vastly different than ours, solve similar problems.” Will continues to keep up to date with the latest happenings in mobility from around the world.

Throughout his time with NCMM, Will has been the regional liaison for FTA Regions 2 and 3 (so NY, NJ, PA, WV, MD, DC, and VA mobility management practitioners please reach out!) and has enjoyed working on NCMM’s various grant projects around the country.

“Mobility management can be a bit of a nebulous topic, but getting to work on important projects that touch on health, food access, employment, and much more has been the highlight of my career. Nothing beats being able to see improvements that can be made in people’s lives through increased mobility freedom.” Before joining the NCMM team, Will worked in commercial real estate as well as economic development. “One of the main things I have learned from my past few jobs is that transportation is the glue that holds everything together. Economic development projects are useless if people can’t get there, and building new developments are useless if people can’t access the services being provided. We need to treat mobility as what it is, essential for the freedom we aspire to have in the United States.”

Feel free to reach out to Will for any mobility-related questions you may have, especially those from Regions 2 and 3!