This spring, the Pittsburgh Business Times is launching a new project called Newly Minted.

This special publication, running in June, will highlight 24 top executives who have assumed their new roles since fall 2023. These include CEOs, presidents, executive directors and equivalent roles.

They represent a variety of industries, from banking to manufacturing to real estate and beyond. Each has been hand-picked by their organization to drive business forward and meet goals and objectives.

The Business Times’ editorial team regularly tracks people in top positions at companies as part of our ongoing news coverage. We selected these 24 based off of this coverage, looking to ensure there was a diversity of people and industries on this list.

To see who the 24 are, scroll through the gallery below or check out the list below, in alphabetical order.

24 new Pittsburgh-area top executives you should know

• Chris Ayers, CEO, Arconic Corp.
• Frederique van Baarle, president and CEO, Lanxess Corp.
• Dr. Richard Beigi, president, UPMC Mercy and UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital
• Barata Bey, president, African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania
• Steve Blanco, CEO, MSA Safety
• Diana Charletta, president and CEO, Equitrans Midstream
• Sanjay Chowbey, incoming president and CEO, Kennametal Inc.
• Michael Connor, market leader, Hanna Commercial Real Estate
• Nicholas Dragga, executive director, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
• Rich Fitzgerald, executive director, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission
• Jeffrey Ford, managing partner, Grossman Yanak & Ford LLP
• Tom Frank, executive director, NAIOP Pittsburgh
• Ricky Frazier Jr., SVP, Keystone Region, Comcast
• Ken Gabriel, CEO, Pitt BioForge
• Christopher Lee, managing director and COO, Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote
• Michael Lyons, president, PNC Financial Services Group Inc.
• David McCall, international president, United Steelworkers
• James Newell, chairman and CEO, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney
• William Oplinger, president and CEO, Alcoa Corp.
• Luke Ratke, Pittsburgh managing partner, Grant Thornton
• Thomas Ryan, Pittsburgh office managing partner, K&L Gates
• James Sullivan, president and COO, Koppers
• Christie Tillapaugh, president and CEO, Dentons Cohen & Grigsby
• Penny Zacharias, managing partner, McGuireWoods Pittsburgh

Profiles of each of these leaders will run in the June 14 weekly edition of the Pittsburgh Business Times and online.

View the full article at bizjournals.com.

The West Newton Bridge is among a list of projects that could be brought to life with $300 million in road, transit and bridge improvement funds that Westmoreland County is slated to receive as part of regional infrastructure work.

The metal truss bridge, built in 1909, carries about 6,500 vehicles each day on Route 136 over the Youghiogheny River, connecting two parts of the borough.

Angela Baker, transportation planning manager for PennDOT’s District 12, estimated the project at $17 million. The bridge is used by pedestrians and bicyclists on the nearby Great Allegheny Passage.

“It is a very historic structure,” she said.

It was listed in poor condition in 2022 with a deteriorating superstructure. Officials plan to build a temporary bridge next to it during the work, as a detour would be significant. The bridge most recently underwent a preservation effort in 2010, following previous rehabilitation work in 1957 and 1984. Bids for the work could be sought next year.

The project appeared among several on the horizon around Westmoreland County in a proposed 2025-28 Transportation Improvement Program being planned by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission. The agency anticipates spending $3.8 billion on highway, bridge and transit projects in 10 counties in 2025-28.

They’re projects that are important, especially in areas that have seen growth and need additional infrastructure investment to keep up, said Jason Rigone, county director of planning and development.

“This TIP focuses on major priorities in the county,” he said.

The regional commission connects agencies, such as PennDOT, with county and municipal leaders to examine what projects are important and how to best use funding. During a public meeting Monday at the county courthouse in Greensburg on the proposal, Dom D’Andrea, commission director of transportation planning, said the program looks out four years and gets updated every two years.

As projects in the plan are completed or costs change, officials have to decide how to adjust it or what improvements should come next based on the amount of federal funding the commission believes it will receive. If approved, it will go into effect Oct. 1.

It will likely be years before any of the projects mentioned Monday come to fruition. They include:

• Construction of a roundabout at the sometimes-clogged intersection of Donohoe and Georges Station roads in Hempfield. Baker estimated that project at $8 million to $10 million.
• Improvements on Route 201 in the area of Interstate 70 in Rostraver. A study will help identify potential work there, but it would span between C. Vance DeiCas Memorial Highway and Finley Road.

“It is very congested,” Baker said.

That has been a priority of Rostraver leaders for a long time, Rigone said, adding he’s happy to see it on the list so officials can find a solution.

The commission is holding public meetings regarding the draft program in each of the 10 counties it serves. It will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Kittanning Township Volunteer Fire Department in Armstrong County and 6 p.m. Thursday in a virtual event for Allegheny County.

The 2025-28 draft plan is available at spcregion.org under programs, transportation and TIP or here.

Comments on it are being accepted until June 7. They can be submitted via email at comments@spcregion.org or by mail to the attention of Ronda Craig, Southwestern PA Commission, 42 21st St., Suite 101, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

View the full article at triblive.com.

Over the next two years, Pittsburgh is ready to move ahead with a $32 million traffic management system to improve traffic flow on six busy corridors.

That system, which will allow signals to be changed as needed based on traffic flow and provide a quicker response to traffic accidents, highlights a series of city projects included in the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission’s Transportation Improvement Program. SPC had a public hearing Friday on projects in Pittsburgh, one of 11 hearings it will have before approving the regional transportation plan June 24.

Jeff Skalican, deputy director of the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, said during the hearing the city has advertised for someone to manage its proposed traffic management center. The center and series of corridors known as “spines” are scheduled to get $29.3 million over the next two years.

After the meeting, Skalican said he is “really excited” that the city will hire the traffic center manager in the next couple of months. The manager will help to oversee development of the center itself in the 412 Building on the Boulevard of the Allies, Downtown, where employees will monitor a series of cameras focused on more than 200 intersections across the city.

The project is an outgrowth of the city’s bid in 2016 to win a one-time Smart Cities Challenge by the U.S. Department of Transportation to use technology to address a transportation issue. The city lost the challenge to Columbus, Ohio, but federal officials were impressed with the city’s proposal and awarded a $12 million grant to help move it forward.

Over the years, the city has cobbled together a series of state and federal grants to finally move ahead with the concept. Skalican said the city hasn’t settled on which corridors will move ahead first, but two should be ready in the next two years and the other four in SPC’s next two-year funding cycle.

The corridors scheduled for smart signals, which also could allow Pittsburgh Regional Transit buses to have priority at intersections, are Bigelow Boulevard, Second Avenue, Centre Avenue, Penn Avenue, Route 51 and West Liberty Avenue. They also will be installed along Forbes and Fifth avenues, where PRT is building its University Line that will have dedicated lanes for buses between Downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland.

The city also has three bridge projects scheduled for construction funding over the next two years: the Swinburne Bridge over Saline Street in lower Oakland ($12.3 million); the 28th Street Bridge over the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway in Polish Hill ($10 million); and the South Negley Avenue Bridge in Shadyside ($6.45 million). Skalican said Swinburne is scheduled for replacement in 2026 and 28th Street for major rehabilitation in 2027, but South Negley hasn’t been scheduled while the city works out details with Norfolk Southern Railroad, which has tracks pass under the structure.

Nine other city bridges have funds earmarked for design work for future replacement or rehabilitation projects.

The Transportation Improvement Program also includes funds for other city projects such as the Allegheny River Green Boulevard bike trail; reconfiguring the traffic pattern on Liberty Avenue through the Strip District to improve safety; and improving traffic on Brownsville Road in the South Hills, Beaver Avenue on the North Side and Penn Avenue in the East End.

The city received heavy criticism after the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge in January 2022 for not having pushed at SPC for funding to upgrade a series of poorly rated bridges. That has changed under the administration of Mayor Ed Gainey, which took office three weeks before the collapse and has made a concerted effort to be more involved in the agency that vets federal funding for transportation projects.

“We’ll have more projects on the TIP than ever before,” Skalican said. “We have seven or eight for construction funding now where we used to have only one or two.”

Overall, SPC expects to spend $1.7 billion on transportation projects over the next two years, up about 7% from the current plan. About 43% of that will be spent on bridges and 22% on roads across the 10-county area.

The commission covers Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland counties and Pittsburgh.

Dom D’Andrea, SPC’s director of transportation, said about $860 million will be spent on 280 bridge projects and $437 million on roads. The region has reduced the number of bridges in poor condition from more than 20% to about 13%, but D’Andrea said, “There’s still more to do,” especially with bridges owned by smaller municipalities.

The agency has remaining hearings on the TIP in eight counties over the next three weeks, beginning with Westmoreland County at 1 p.m. Monday at the county courthouse. Go to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission website for the full schedule.

View the full article at unionprogress.com.

Officials at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) have opened their public comment period for community members to share any concerns about local infrastructure.

As a part of their Transportation Improvement Program, the organization has opened an online survey for residents of Beaver County to share which potential infrastructure projects are most important to their communities until June 7. The SPC held an in-person meeting on Thursday detailing some of the previously suggested projects, but this open comment period will allow the public to share their ideas on what should be addressed by their studies.

These projects will become a part of the organization’s Long-Range Transportation Plan over the next 25 years. As a part of this strategy, smaller projects such as road improvements and traffic flows will be proposed to municipalities to improve infrastructure in smaller bursts. From 2025-28, over $4.5 billion is expected to be invested in areas around the region.

In addition to the online form, residents can submit comments via by email at comments@spcregion.org or through traditional mail by sending a letter to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission’s address at PO Box 101429, Pittsburgh, PA 15237.

View the full article at ellwoodcityledger.com.

Officials at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) have opened their public comment period for community members to share any concerns about local infrastructure.

As a part of their Transportation Improvement Program, the organization has opened an online survey for residents of Beaver County to share which potential infrastructure projects are most important to their communities until June 7. The SPC held an in-person meeting on Thursday detailing some of the previously suggested projects, but this open comment period will allow the public to share their ideas on what should be addressed by their studies.

These projects will become a part of the organization’s Long-Range Transportation Plan over the next 25 years. As a part of this strategy, smaller projects such as road improvements and traffic flows will be proposed to municipalities to improve infrastructure in smaller bursts. From 2025-28, over $4.5 billion is expected to be invested in areas around the region.

In addition to the online form, residents can submit comments via by email at comments@spcregion.org or through traditional mail by sending a letter to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission’s address at PO Box 101429, Pittsburgh, PA 15237.

View the full article at timesonline.com.

A 30-day comment period has begun for a proposed 2025-28 Transportation Improvement Plan unveiled in the first of a series of county meetings Wednesday at PACareerLink in White Township.

”Smart Moves for a Changing Region” arrived as scheduled in the second year of the current 2023-26 TIP for the region including Indiana, Armstrong, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence and Washington counties, and the City of Pittsburgh.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission develops Long-Range Transportation Plans as part of its role as the area’s designated Metropolitan Planning Organization. Its latest plan for 2025-28 can be found at spcregion.org.

SPC staffers, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials, and local stakeholders joined the commission’s executive director, Rich Fitzgerald, for a 90-minute session, the first of 10 scheduled across the region in the month to come.

“We have to start collaborating as 10 counties,” said Indiana County Commissioner Robin A. Gorman. “We really have to start working together.”

Each TIP is meant to be a step toward investments over the next 25 years in the region.

The 2023-26 TIP foresees spending more than $2.1 billion on public transit, more than $1.5 billion on road and bridge projects, and an additional $2 billion in other federal, state and private funding going toward interstates, railways and other major projects in the region.

“We really want public participation,” said Mark Hilliard, president of the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce. He’s co-chair, with Indiana County Office of Planning & Development Executive Director Byron G. Stauffer Jr., of the county’s Public Participation Panel, consisting of private citizens, public officials and others with a handle on transportation needs in Indiana County.

Hilliard, Stauffer and Gorman, in turn, are part of the county’s contingent on the SPC board of directors with county Commissioners R. Michael Keith and Sherene Hess, with Hess also representing the county on the SPC Executive Board.

According to the plan, $860 million would be invested in bridges. SPC officials said some notable examples of major bridge rehabilitation to begin work over the next four years include the U.S. Route 119 bridge over Two Lick Creek in Center Township, Indiana County, and the Judge J. Frank Graff Bridge carrying U.S. Route 422 over the Allegheny River between Manor and North Buffalo townships in Armstrong County.

Additionally, Fitzgerald said, “there are other pots of money that aren’t on the TIP.”

And it is a diverse discussion going on. An Environmental Justice Report and an Air Quality Conformity Report also are part of the proposed TIP.

Also, some of the concern isn’t about speeding around from one place to another, but also, as Indiana Borough Councilman Peter Broad put it, a need in some places for traffic calming.

“There is a disconnect when it comes to working inside urbanized municipalities,” said Broad, a longtime public official in Indiana County’s second-largest municipality, who also has expressed concern about Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s interest in a “campus front door” from the IUP Indiana campus to downtown Indiana.

Since Wednesday, the commission also has held public meetings in Beaver County and in Pittsburgh, with the next meetings after that being on Monday at 1 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room of the Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greensburg and on Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the Kittanning Township Volunteer Fire Department, 13126 U.S. Route 422, Kittanning, for Armstrong County.

Additionally, between now and June 7 at 5 p.m., comments about the proposed TIP can be submitted via email at comments@spcregion.org, or utilizing an online input form at surveymonkey.com/r/SPC_Public_Input or by mail to Att: Ronda Craig, Southwestern PA Commission, 42 21st Street, Suite 101, Pittsburgh, PA 15222.

View the full article at indianagazette.com.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission will hold a meeting in Indiana today to talk about Indiana County’s Transportation and Improvement Projects, and the public will get a chance to comment on that plan.

The TIP plans for short-term transportation and infrastructure projects and is updated every two years.  When that is updated, these meetings are held to inform the public about the plan.  A brief summary will be provided to attendees then the staff will field questions from the floor.

The meeting will be held at the PA CareerLink office on Indian Springs Road at 3:00 this afternoon.  If you can’t attend, but still want to share your thoughts, you can do so by submitting written comments by email or an online input form.  You can also send comments to Ronda Craig, Southwestern PA Commission, 42 21st Street, Suite 101, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. The meeting will also be streamed over Zoom Video Chat.

View the full story at wccsradio.com.

An upcoming feature in the Pittsburgh Business Times will look at 20 People to Know in Infrastructure and Transportation, part of our quarterly 20 People to Know series.

20 People to Know connects the Pittsburgh business community with influential businesspeople working in key industries. These listings are not meant to be comprehensive or a ranking, but rather an introduction to some of the behind-the-scenes players, key leaders and up-and-comers.

The 20 People to Know in Infrastructure and Transportation is slated to publish on June 28 and will include Q&As with 20 professionals who work in infrastructure and transportation at regional engineering firms, governmental agencies and authorities, manufacturers and those planning and maintaining roads, airports, bridges, busways and other transit.

Here are the 20 People to Know in Infrastructure and Transportation, alphabetically:

• Ahmad Ahmadi, SAI Consulting Engineers Inc.
• Jeffrey Bezek, Pittsburgh International Airport
• Mary Ann Bucci, Port of Pittsburgh Commission
• Leann Chaney, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission
• Jenna Cunningham, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Pittsburgh District
• Martin Erdley, Orbital Engineering Inc.
• Hota GangaRao, West Virginia University
• Kent Harries, University of Pittsburgh
• Shelia Kingsley, Alstom
• Rich Krajcovic, GAI Consultants
• Kimberly Lucas, City of Pittsburgh, Department of Mobility & Infrastructure
• Tom Medovitch, Strategic Analytics LLC (PIT Terminal Modernization Program)
• Thomas Melisko Jr., International Union of Operating Engineers Local 66
• Gabe Monzo, Westmoreland County Airport Authority
• Sean Z. Qian, Carnegie Mellon University
• Don Rivetti Jr., Pittsburgh Regional Transit
• John Robinson, Michael Baker International
• Meghan Sexton, Allegheny County
• Douglas Smith, Civil & Environmental Consultants Inc.
• Jason Zang, PennDOT

Earlier this year, the Business Times published 20 People to Know in Health Care. In 2023, the Business Times published 20 People to Know in Banking, 20 People to Know in Law, 20 People to Know in Manufacturing and 20 People to Know in Higher Education.

You also can view more information on upcoming networking events and programs for which individuals and companies may be nominated for recognition — Fast 50 (fastest-growing private companies, closing May 10), and C-Suite Awards for top executives can be found on the Business Times website.

View the full article at bizjournals.com.

The public is getting another chance to voice their opinions about the Southwestern Pennsylvania Transportation Improvement Program.

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission is hosting a public meeting for Indiana County residents to give their opinions on local transportation and infrastructure projects, on Wednesday from 3 to 5 p.m. at PA CareerLink, 300 Indian Springs Road, White Township.

Indiana County officials and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation representatives also are scheduled to attend.

SPC is the area’s designated Metropolitan Planning Organization, responsible for transportation and infrastructure planning in a 10-county region around Pittsburgh.

As part of that role, SPC develops Long-Range Transportation Plans that provide the region with specific infrastructure and transportation initiatives that need addressed over the next 25 years.

SPC said the LRTP is implemented with a series of shorter-term investment plans, known as Transportation Improvement Programs.

In the current TIP period, 2025-2028, the commission said, more than $4.5 billion in state, federal, and local funds will be invested to improve the region’s transportation system.

Those unable to attend Wednesday’s meeting can still provide their opinions during a public comment period which runs until June 7, by writing either to comments@spcregion.org or SPC at PO Box 101429, Pittsburgh, PA 15237, or by utilizing an online comment form at spcregion.org/get-involved/.

View the full article at indianagazette.com.

What if there was a way to prevent wrong-way crashes?

The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission says there were 15 wrong-way crashes just along Route 28 in the last five years.

New technology could detect drivers going the wrong way, and alert the other drivers on the road.

German technology company bosch has developed a cloud-based, wrong-way warning system, using GPS to spot and alert wrong-way drivers.

It can also warn other cars and cell phones nearby that have the bosch apps.

In Europe, bosch says it issued more than 600 alerts in one year.

The company is now trying to make the system more widely available.

Channel 11′s Jennifer Tomazic has taken an interest in wrong-way crashes and has looked into what technology we have in the Pittsburgh area to deter them.

We were the first to tell you that PennDOT is installing wrong-way detectors along almost two dozen ramps along Route 28.

It’s an intelligent transportation system, meaning sensors, detectors, and cameras will detect wrong-way drivers.

Automated alert signs will go off, to let the driver know they’re going the wrong way.

The traffic management center will get a notification, and they can put a “wrong-way driver” message on electronic highway signs to alert other drivers on the road.

The detectors will be installed between Pittsburgh and Harmar.

The project is supposed to start this summer and wrap up next year.

View the full story at wpxi.com.