Video statements for 2026 Candidates may be viewed here.

It has been a privilege to serve on the Western District Board for the last two years, and I am honored to accept the nomination for President. I am proud of the work that our Board has accomplished, including strengthening financial support and resources to our local Sections, working through ITE’s brand evolution initiative, welcoming new student chapters and committee chairs, and updating our election procedures to enhance member engagement. Looking ahead, one focus area for me will be working with our Student Funding and Initiatives Committee to implement the recently-updated strategic plan. This includes an expanded awards/grants program, developing a chapter support program, and long range financial planning for the endowment to ensure sustainable investment in our future leaders. I remain committed to delivering value for our members and industry partners, and welcome your ideas and input.

I am honored to be serving as your 2026 ITE Western District Secretary–Treasurer and would be grateful for your vote in the upcoming election for Vice President. My long-standing involvement with ITE, combined with my professional experience in transportation safety, planning, and operations, has prepared me well for this next step.

If elected, my priorities will continue to be:

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• Sustaining and expanding ITE Western District’s offerings. I will continue supporting ITE as the organization of choice for transportation professionals by promoting high‑quality, cost‑effective, and sustainable programs and resources.
• Championing transportation safety. Safety is at the core of our profession, and much of my career has focused on transit and roadway safety. I am proud of ITE’s commitment to safety through the ITE Safety Roadmap and Action Plan and will continue advocating for safety across all modes.

As a bit of background about me, I have been engaged with ITE since my student days at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and have remained active throughout my career with the San Francisco Bay Area Section, including serving at all levels of Section leadership and as Section Administrator.

Professionally, I lead the Safety, Planning, and Operations team in the Transit Engineering Section at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). My work integrates engineering, operations, and safety. Additionally, I am serving on a special assignment as the SFMTA’s Major Special Events & Policy Lead, leading planning and operations for events such as the NFL Super Bowl, APEC Leaders’ Meeting, and the 2025 NBA All‑Star events. I was honored to be recognized as a Mass Transit Magazine 40 Under 40 awardee in 2023.

I would be honored to receive your vote and look forward to continuing to serve the Western District.

I have worked in the ITS industry for 10 years and have been active in the ITE Oregon Section for the past four years.

I am running for Secretary-Treasurer because I want to have a larger impact on ITE as a whole. I also want to better understand how the organization works and how we can reach more future engineers and transportation professionals. That matters if we want to make our roads safer and more efficient.

I have served in multiple roles on the ITE Oregon Section board, including Secretary, Vice President, President, and Past President. In each of these roles, I handled budgets and financial tracking. I have also managed budgets in my professional roles, both in project work and within company operations.

If elected, I want to focus on a few key areas:

• improving outreach to grow membership
• increasing engagement with students and future professionals
• strengthening alignment with sponsors and industry partners

I believe these are areas where we can make real progress.

I work best in a team setting with clear goals and strong communication. I value being direct, responsive, and organized. I believe everyone should understand their role and how they contribute.

I also bring a different perspective. I am not an engineer, and I do not work for a public agency. I represent a part of ITE that is not always at the center. That gives me a different view on how we grow, how we engage, and how we move forward.

If you are looking for someone with hands-on experience, a clear approach, and a different perspective, I would appreciate your support.

I am honored to be considered for Secretary-Treasurer of the Western District of ITE. ITE has been an important part of my education and career growth for 20 years and I’m excited that I have the opportunity to further contribute to the Western District and ITE International.

I’ve been an active member of ITE since starting with the Portland State University Student Chapter when I was working on my bachelor’s degree almost 20 years ago. I became a part of the Oregon Section of ITE shortly after graduating and have been the Oregon Section’s Traffic Bowl Chair for the last 10 years. I credit ITE with developing my knowledge as a transportation engineer as I’ve transitioned from school, to my first job with a small engineering firm, and later to my current job as Assistant City Engineer at City of Lake Oswego, Oregon.

ITE is a wonderful community of professionals that strive to support each other. The community is a major reason why I’ve continued to be an active member in the Oregon section, working each year to organize the Traffic Bowl event for students from throughout the District to meet with professionals in the field and have fun while doing so. The community is also why I’ve thrown my name in the hat for the officer position with Western District – I believe continuing to grow this wonderful community through communication and transparency will keep ITE one of the best professional organizations for the transportation fields of engineering and planning.

I understand the level of commitment required to serve as an executive in the Western District and I’m happy to volunteer. If elected, I will approach this role with a genuine desire to give back to the organization that supports our shared growth as a community.

Good Day! My name is Doug Smith and I am honored to be a nominee for International Director representing WesternITE. International Directors are elected to a three year term and serve as the primary liaisons between the International and District levels of ITE.

My four years on the Western District board went by fast. During those four years I had the pleasure of working with the other board members, the international staff and the opportunity to dive into the operation, finances and working committees of the district. It has been a great experience and I look forward to continuing my ITE journey.

I believe my experience as a board member of the Western District and involvement in ITE activities including the 2022 Palm Springs LAC has prepared me for this role at the international level of ITE. While I have learned a great deal about the challenges of leading the District, it has also served to reinforce what I believe the vision of this District should be. You can read more about my credentials on LinkedIn but I want to remind you of what my vision and goals were for my tenure on the board and will continue to be at the international level.

VISION

Over the last few years, I have seen the challenges we face and I have been reminded that ITE remains the premier professional organization providing information and technical content to transportation professionals. As we emerge into a new era for ITE with updated branding and an improved vision, we need to continue to find ways to connect with our membership and provide them with the mentoring, technical and professional support required to be leaders.

My goals for the three years as an international director include:

ENGAGEMENT: Develop plans and programs that will increase engagement and involvement of all sections and chapters within the Western District;

INNOVATION: Improve and increase the meetings and webinars available to our members to provide continuing education programs. We will continue to provide high quality and innovative meetings and conferences;

TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE: Provide technical content and technology sharing so that our members are the most capable in the industry. We must continue to attract and engage our young members and be leaders in the area of safety;

COLLABORATION/MENTORING: Focus on improving our programs and providing young ITE members with mentoring to show them the benefits of ITE and the value they have to our industry.

I would appreciate receiving your vote for international director in the upcoming election.

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about me and my candidacy for  ITE International Director. It has been an honor to serve on the ITE Western District Board over the past several years, and I hope you will allow me to serve three more as your International Director.

While I know many of you personally, there are many of you I have not yet met. I hope my president’s messages in last year’s WesternITE and E-News gave you a sense of who I am and what I care about. If you see me at an ITE meeting, or even walking down the street, please flag me down. I would enjoy the chance to connect in person.

In my day job, I’m Q-Free’s Vice President of Product Management. In that role, I work closely with a talented team of software developers to build innovative traffic signal and ITS software. I don’t write code – trust me, that would be a disaster. Instead, I leverage my experience as a transportation engineer to guide our development teams in building tools that meet the needs of engineers, planners, and technicians.

My involvement with ITE spans more than 20 years, beginning with the Oregon State University Student Chapter. Today, in addition to being your 2026 ITE Western District Past President, I am also  Co-Chair of the ITE Private Sector Council which was created in 2025 through the merger of the prior Consulting Council and Industry Council.

I’m also deeply engaged in industry standards development, including ATC and NTCIP. These standards are joint products of ITE, AASHTO, and NEMA, with ITE playing a major role in project delivery. As our industry moves to address a sever lack of cyber security in our critical infrastructure, there is a lot of work to do both on the actual standards and on the processes we use to develop the standards.

My goals as International Director are:

1. First and foremost, to represent the whole of the Western District in ITE Business
2. Second, to promote greater Industry Engagement with ITE
3. Third, to improve the processes and governance used in our Standards Development

In running for International Director, I’m not looking for a victory lap. I am raising my hand to do the hard work necessary to keep ITE at the forefront of technical excellence in transportation.

Thank you for your support!

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