As Executive Vice President, Chief Experience and Engagement Officer for CapMetro, Samantha leads the agency’s strategic initiatives and team members in Customer Service, Community Engagement, Communications, Marketing and Client/Business Development. These teams are unified in their effort to provide valuable experiences and meaningful engagements with our community, customers, partners and team members.

Samantha joined CapMetro in 2019 as its Director of Brand Communications and served as the Senior Director of Public Affairs and Engagement, leading the agency’s Community Engagement and Communications teams, prior to her current role.

Samantha began her career in public service at the City of Austin in 2010 in the Public Information Offices for City Hall and the Austin Transportation Department. Before joining CapMetro, she led large-scale communications efforts for Austin ISD, including the district's successful 2017 bond, as the Assistant Director of Public Affairs and Operations.

She is a volunteer for Seedling Mentor Program and an alumnus of the University of Missouri Journalism School and Texas State, where she earned her Master of Public Administration.

Annick is a leader in local government, land use and transportation policy, urban planning, sustainable transportation and public infrastructure programs.

Before becoming a consultant, Annick worked with the City of Austin in roles that included Assistant Director of the Austin Transportation Department, Co-Lead for Land Development Code Revision in the City Manager's Office, and as Mobility Officer for Project Connect in the City Manager's Office.

She is also a member of the College of Fellows - American Planning Association Institute of Certified Planners, FAICP (inducted 2024).

Raised in Austin, Heather is an active member of the business, arts, and volunteer community. Her career spans finance, civil and environmental engineering, health science, and education. She maintains a strong enthusiasm and curiosity about the world and our ability to foster positive change over time. Her current focus includes Placemaking, Mobility Hubs, and Pilot Programs for Austin Transportation & Public Works.

Heather is a longtime Texas musician and writer who has performed and recorded with local, regional, national and international acts often pseudonymously. She has appeared in stage and television productions and is the author/co-author of various short films, plays, essays, and books, similarly pseudonymously. Her music has been used in literature courses in several universities. She consults in music, film, and theatre with a focus on festival development.

In addition to overseeing a reorganization of the Austin Smart City Alliance (ASCA) and serving as Managing Director, Heather serves on the Board of Directors for ScriptWorks, a playwright-driven service organization and a theatrical production company that exists to support dramatic writers by providing opportunities at all stages in the writing process — from inception through production.

Brian Butterfield is a Senior Vice President focusing on Office Tenant Representation at Cushman & Wakefield | Oxford Commercial. A native of the Lone Star state, and an Austin resident for more than 15 years, Brian is both personally and professionally invested in the long-term economic health and vibrancy of Austin. To each of his clients he brings a keen understanding of the culture of city, the professionals that give it meaning to him, and the nuances of the submarkets and product types.

Brian is keenly aware of the transportation that Austin struggles with every day because of his clientele base being located downtown. He adores Austin and wants to promote other transportation options that will increase mobility in the urban core.

Dennis serves as an Assistant Director over parking at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was the first individual at the University of Texas to earn the Certified Administrator of Public Parking (CAPP) designation- a milestone that reflects his commitment to professional excellence.

He oversees both the Administrative Staff and the University’s Transportation Programs. These programs are designed to enhance safety, accessibility, and student well-being across campus.

Sarah Garza is a Senior Associate for Infrastructure Capital Projects and Climate Advisory with KPMG. Prior to her role with KPMG, she was the Director of Mobility Industry Partnerships for Workforce Solutions Capital Area (WFSCA), a private, publicly funded 501(c)(3) nonprofit responsible for the data-driven planning, oversight, and evaluation of workforce development activities in Austin-Travis County.

Sarah is an alumnus of Occidental College, where she holds a BA in Theatre, and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, where a large part of her focus was on transportation policy. During her time at LBJ Sarah merged her love of policy and the arts, creating a documentary exploring our state’s transportation infrastructure and the many steps our community can take to reduce traffic congestion.

Previous roles include serving as the Constituent Services Representative for Congressman Lloyd Doggett, a Legislative Fellow for Texas State Senator Kirk Watson, and a Legislative Intern for Capital Metro. Prior to working in policy, Sarah worked in tech and owned her own business.

In addition to serving on the Board of Movability, Sarah is also a member of the Federal Highway Administration’s Strategic Workforce Development Implementation Team.

Derek serves as the Program Manager of Partnerships and Business Development at CapMetro. In his role, he oversees the CapMetro for Business program, transit pass agreements with local government organizations and universities, and non-fare revenue programs like transit advertising.

Prior to joining the agency, Derek contributed to reshaping how individuals navigate from point A to B at car2go and Spin. At car2go, he played a role in the marketing of the free-floating carshare service and encouraged employers to add carshare as a commuter benefit. Subsequently, at Spin, he collaborated closely with municipalities and community organizations to advance safety, equity, accessibility goals for shared scooter and bike systems.

Derek is an alumnus of Portland State University, where he holds a BA in Marketing.

Sandy Hentges Guzman is the Chief Executive Officer of the Austin Area Research Organization (AARO), a non-partisan nonprofit organization of 110 business and civic leaders from Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop, Burnet and Caldwell counties that engages committed leaders in advancing regional solutions to benefit the long-term economic and social well-being of Central Texas.

Before her role at AARO, Sandy was the Legislative Director for Texas State Senator Kirk Watson. Initially focused solely on transportation policy for the senator, Sandy has also served as point on the senator’s 10 Goals in 10 Years since the initiative began in 2011. This led to the 2012 election to increase the Central Health tax rate to support a redesign of the community healthcare safety net system, the creation of the UT Dell Medical School and engage Seton’s commitment to build a new teaching hospital, the Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas, Austin. The 10 in 10 effort is ongoing.

Sandy first moved to Austin in 2000. Later that year, she joined the campaign for light rail as Deputy Campaign Director. Though the effort was unsuccessful, it provided Sandy the opportunity to get to know Austin, its elected officials and business and community leaders. It was also the beginning of her work on local and regional transportation policy. She subsequently joined the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce staff where she worked for eight years on local, state and federal policy issues, with a heavy emphasis on transportation issues/policy, on behalf of the business community as Senior Vice President for Public Policy.

Alex Houston has worked in TDM for several years, first at Movability as an intern, and currently with JLL, working for Meta. In her current role, she is Assistant Transportation Manager, and implements transportation programs in Central Texas and across the U.S. for one of the largest tech companies in the world.

Alex has direct experience with TDM programming and implementation strategies and has helped Meta adjust its transportation policies during and after the many changes that the COVID-19 pandemic brought to employers.

As an experienced CFO, Rey Madolora brings extensive experience in scaling and growing businesses, building passionate teams, fundraising (raising over $250M in capital), strategic planning, change management, and business transactions, with a focus on early-stage startup technology companies. He is a strategic thinker and has an innate ability to translate technical knowledge into practical financial guidance and creative business solutions. As a key business partner his strengths are engaging across the organization, understanding operations, and providing expert financial analysis to tackle complex operational challenges and driving strategic business initiatives.

Rey is currently the CFO/COO of UneeQ, a global leader in Digital Human experiences powered by generative AI, where he oversees accounting, finance, FP&A, Business Intelligence, professional services, and customer success.

Prior to joining UneeQ, Rey was the first CFO of Dropoff, Inc. he made considerable contributions to turnaround the Company and put it on a trajectory for success. In just under four years Rey’s efforts helped the Company grow over 500% and achieve profitability.

Jenell leads economic, demographic, geographic, and market research and analysis efforts to support the Downtown Alliance's strategic priorities.

She sets the annual research agenda and directs multiple research projects that support economic development, planning, and advocacy efforts. She serves as the staff lead for the Research Task Force and is the secondary staff lead for the Strategic Communication Committee. Prior to her work with the Downtown Alliance, Jenell worked for the City of Austin for more than 10 years.

Aneka develops, supports, and grows the Global Commute program, "Whole Commute", Global Campus TDM strategy, and corporate security operations program across Whole Foods Market's growing, urban campus in Austin, TX. She previously served as Movability’s Mobility Challenge Program Manager, working in collaboration with the City of Austin’s Transportation Department, Central Texas companies and other stakeholders to successfully manage and execute the goals of the Mayor’s Mobility Challenge.

Prior to moving to Austin in 2018, Aneka served as the Transportation Outreach Specialist at the Downtown Denver Partnership, playing a lead role in implementing transportation demand management programs that incentivize individuals to use sustainable modes of transportation, engaging private sector stakeholders, and developing partnerships and programs to improve access to/from/around Downtown Denver.

She previously worked for the Regional Air Quality Council and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 8. Aneka holds a Bachelor of Arts in Government and American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and has a Master’s in Public Administration, Environmental Policy and Management from the University of Colorado Denver.

Kristin (P.E., M.S.) has over 20 years of combined experience and education in civic leadership and engineering to drive and deliver complex programs through partnerships at the City of Austin. She currently serves as the Program Director at Austin Transportation and Public Works leading a $48M program to provide alternative transportation options while $20B in transportation investments are constructed in Central Texas over the next decade. Kristin has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas, Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University, and is currently pursuing an Executive Master in Public Leadership through the LBJ School at the University of Texas.

Bryan's accounting background has led him to a career in public service. He has worked for the City of Austin Treasury Department, and is currently the Chief Financial Officer for Austin Transit Partnership, the the independent local government corporation tasked with implementing Project Connect.

During his time working for the City of Austin he administered the financing portion of the various bond programs that support transportation throughout the City.

He is interested in the exploration of different funding initiatives to advance multi-modal transportation throughout the region.

Rob offers contract advising based on his experience as a SMART City Industry Leader, Director of Transportation and Traffic Management at the City of Austin and City of Seattle, and his work planning and programming mega infrastructure projects nation-wide.

Before moving into a consultant role, Rob led STV’s new multidisciplinary smart cities practice, which includes a fully integrated suite of thinkers, planners, finance experts, designers, procurement and grant consultants, digital technologists and program managers, bolstering our advisory services offerings. Under Rob’s direction, the smart cities practice advises public and private clients on urban strategies, including long-range budget development and cost/revenue options, as they consider different approaches in mobility, social infrastructure, urban solutions, decarbonization and public resources management.

Prior to working at STV, Rob was the founding Director of the Austin Transportation Department (ATD), formed in 2008. ATD has grown from a single employee to approximately 450 FTE today and is responsible for Transportation Program Development, Right-of-way Permitting, Traffic Engineering, Special Event Management, Traffic Signals and Arterial Management, Signing and Street Markings, Parking Management, Transit Facilitation, Active Transportation, Vision Zero, Smart Mobility, and right of way and development permitting.

With 30 years of experience in the transportation industry, Mia Zmud leverages the power of scientific research to guide emerging technology and innovation business strategies and market plans within the transportation industry. Holding C-level, senior advisor, and management roles spanning both the public and private sectors, Mia offers a unique perspective to guide strategic direction, partnership and alliance building, and market strategy. She is passionate about driving innovation solutions within the public sector to speed the adoption of emerging technologies, meet customer expectations, and deliver results.

Mia brings considerable experience in establishing programs and processes to support mobility management and technology innovation, including frameworks for identifying, testing, evaluating, and deploying technology that matches strategic priority and operational need. Currently, she is advising a business unit of the Florida Department of Transportation, the Florida Turnpike Enterprise, in their efforts to establish an innovation program to support research and development activities and to develop a framework to strategically guide and manage technology investments and new ideas. She is also leading the Houston market deployment of one of the nation’s first comprehensive Mobility as a Service platforms, Houston ConnectSmart, with the developer (Metropia) and for the Texas Department of Transportation.