Special Briefing - Transportation Opportunities & Challenges in the New Federalism

Join us as our expert panel discusses the implications for America's transportation network in the developing realignment of trillions of dollars in federal fiscal support for states and localities. This realignment presents great opportunities as well as vexing challenges for transportation planners and developers. Moves to accelerate project delivery, including handing responsibility for environmental reviews of highway construction to states, may help cut costs. At the same time, Administration moves to repeal the entire federal climate regulatory framework under the Clean Air Act may complicate efforts to improve the ability of the nation's transportation systems to withstand the stresses of increasingly severe weather events. A bitterly divided Congress, meanwhile, faces a September 30 deadline to reauthorize $1.2 trillion in federal funding for highways, transit, safety, and railroads.

Speakers include Leslie Richards, Professor of Practice, City & Regional Planning, Weitzman School of Design; Eryn Hurley, Chief Government Affairs Officer, National Association of Counties; Robert Poole, Director of Transportation Policy and Searle Freedom Trust Transportation Fellow, Reason Foundation; and Naomi Renek, Owner, Renek LLC. 

Moderated by William Glasgall, Volcker Alliance Public Finance Adviser and Penn IUR Fellow, and Susan Wachter, Co-Director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research and Wharton Professor of Real Estate and Professor of Finance, this briefing is the sixty-seventh in a series of sixty-minute online conversations featuring experts from the national research networks of the Volcker Alliance and Penn IUR, along with other leading academics, economists, and federal, state, and local leaders. 

Special Briefings are made possible by funding from The Travelers Institute, the Volcker Alliance, and members of the Penn IUR Advisory Board. Recordings of the entire Special Briefings series are available on the Volcker Alliance or Penn IUR websites.

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Leslie S. Richards is the former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), the fifth-largest state Department of Transportation in the United States, and the former CEO and General Manager of SEPTA, the sixth-largest transit system in the country, serving the greater Delaware Valley.

Trained as a planner, she is known for her commitment to inclusive community engagement and her ability to align complex interests across sectors. The first woman and the first professional planner to lead PennDOT, Richards prioritized the integration of quality-of-life and accessibility considerations into major infrastructure decisions. She led both agencies through significant crises—including a global pandemic and cybersecurity threats—while advancing long-term capital and modernization programs.

Richards is nationally recognized for her leadership in integrating emerging technologies into transportation systems. Her work has emphasized the use of data analytics, artificial intelligence, and smart infrastructure to drive innovation and improve public service.

She has served as Chair of the Pennsylvania Public-Private Partnership (P3) Board, Chair of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and currently chairs the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.

Richards received a Master of Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and was appointed to the Weitzman School faculty in 2020.

Eryn Hurley serves as NACo's Chief Government Affairs Officer, where she plays a key role in shaping and advancing the association’s federal policy priorities and development. Assisting in Legislative and Executive Branch outreach and experience in a broad range of domestic policy issues, Eryn works closely with county officials across the country to advocate for county interests on Capitol Hill and in the White House.

Her deep understanding of public policy, coupled with a commitment to ensuring that counties have a strong voice in federal legislation, has made her a vital part of NACo’s leadership team. Since March 2021, Eryn has oversaw the implementation of the American Rescue Plan Act’s (ARPA) State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) where she provided county leaders with information about eligible uses, reporting requirements and more.

Eryn also spearheads NACo’s Federal Fellowship Initiative, which focuses on the importance and structure of America's intergovernmental system, with a specific emphasis on the roles, responsibilities, operations and policy priorities of county governments across the country. As part of the initiative, NACo aims to educate members of Congress, Congressional staff and federal policy officials about the roles and responsibilities of counties across the country.

Eryn also staffs the National Association of County Intergovernmental Relations Officials (NACIRO) and serves as a liaison to the DC-based county lobbyist groups.

Prior to her current position, she staffed the Finance, Pensions and Intergovernmental Affairs (FPIGA) portfolio focused on policies related to fiscal management, municipal borrowing and elections along with the Human Services and Education (HSE) portfolio.

Robert Poole is director of transportation policy and Searle Freedom Trust Transportation Fellow at Reason Foundation. He co-founded the Reason Foundation with Manny Klausner and Tibor Machan in 1978, and served as its president and CEO until the end of 2000. He was a member of the Bush-Cheney transition team in 2000. Over the years, he has advised multiple presidential administrations on transportation policy.

Poole is credited as the first person to use the term "privatization" to refer to the contracting out of public services and is the author of the first-ever book on privatization, Cutting Back City Hall, published by Universe Books in 1980. He is also editor of the books Instead of Regulation: Alternatives to Federal Regulatory Agencies (Lexington Books, 1981), Defending a Free Society (Lexington Books, 1984), and Unnatural Monopolies (Lexington Books, 1985). He also co-edited the book Free Minds & Free Markets: 25 Years of Reason (Pacific Research Institute, 1993).

Poole has written hundreds of articles, papers, and policy studies on privatization and transportation issues. His popular writings have appeared in national newspapers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, and numerous other publications. He has also been a guest on network television programs such as Good Morning America, NBC's Nightly News, ABC's World News Tonight, and the CBS Evening News. Poole writes a monthly column on transportation issues for Public Works Financing.

Poole earned his B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and did graduate work in operations research at New York University.

Naomi Renek is the owner of Renek LLC, which provides senior-level advisory services to transit agencies, policymakers, and industry partners navigating complex policy, funding, and organizational challenges. Drawing on more than two decades of experience at the NY Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Naomi Renek brings first-hand insight into how federal policy, funding decisions, and organizational dynamics intersect, and how to advance initiatives when the path is uncertain.

Prior to Renek LLC, Naomi held several executive positions at the MTA, including Senior Advisor to MTA Chair & CEO, Chief of Staff at MTA NYC Transit, and Deputy Chief of Staff at MTA Construction & Development. She was MTA’s lead strategist on federal affairs and served on the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Executive Committee, Board, and Legislative Steering Committee. Naomi began her transit career at NYC Transit planning long-term subway service changes, including the Second Avenue Subway. She previously worked in advertising.