Two experienced rail transit professionals, Joseph Marie and Dave Schumacher, have been named by WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff to key management positions.
Joseph Marie, with WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff since 2012, has been appointed Operations Manager of the firm’s Transit & Rail Technical excellence Center (TEC). In his new position, Marie will lead project delivery, strategic initiatives and talent development for transit and rail projects across the U.S.
Marie has 30 years of experience in the design, construction operations and maintenance of intermodal transportation systems. Since joining WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff as a technical manager, he has led the firm’s work on several major contracts, including the project management and general engineering consulting effort for the Region of Waterloo rapid transit system in Ontario, Canada; systems analysis for Amtrak’s Gateway Program; and the phase 2 feasibility study for the Brooklyn-Queens streetcar project.
Marie previously served at several state and regional transportation systems, including the Connecticut Department of Transportation, Valley Metro Rail in Phoenix, Minneapolis Metro Transit, the Port Authority of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. He has also held executive positions with Bombardier Transportation and Siemens Transportation Systems.
Marie has published more than a dozen articles and papers on equipment technology, operations and modal integration for transit industry journals in the U.S. and Europe. He has also lectured at Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, University of Connecticut, University of Karlsruhe (Germany) and Concordia University.
Marie received an M.A. in public administration from Penn State and a B.A. in economics and political science from Merrimack College. His professional affiliations include the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the American Public Transportation Association.
Dave Schumacher joins WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff as a senior planning manager in the firm’s San Diego office, serving as project manager or lead planner on transit planning projects in Southern California.
Schumacher has more than 30 years of experience in public transportation planning. Prior to joining WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, he was a principal regional planner for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the regional planning agency for San Diego County. He led SANDAG’s transit planning section in the development of the regional long-range transit plan, corridor planning for light rail and bus rapid transit projects, development of the Regional Short-Range Transit Plan, and coordination with the Metropolitan Transit System and North County Transit District on short-term planning and corridor planning activities. He also oversaw the development of the Urban Area Transit Strategy, which outlines transit and land use strategy for the long-range transit vision in 2050 San Diego Forward: The Regional Plan, adopted in October 2015.
Schumacher earned a bachelor's degree in geography from San Diego State University and a master’s degree in city and regional planning from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Among his professional affiliations, he is a board member of the City Heights Community Development Corp., former chair of the Transportation Research Board Committee on High-Occupancy Vehicle Systems, and co-founder and former board chair for WalkSanDiego, a pedestrian advocacy non-profit organization now known as Circulate San Diego.