COMTO Honors 10 Women Transportation Trailblazers

3/6/2026

Women’s History Month is the perfect time to honor women leaders driving the transportation industry. This March, the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO)’s Women Who Move the Nation award is recognizing 10 women leaders for their excellence, innovation, and exemplary dedication to moving the nation. COMTO will highlight the achievements of these trailblazers throughout the month of March, culminating at the 15th annual COMTO awards ceremony on April 15 in Washington, DC.

To date, COMTO has inducted 162 women representing a broad cross-section of multi-modal transportation in both the private and public sectors. Among the list of honorees is Dallas Area Rapid Transit President & CEO and APTA Board member, Nadine Lee. Remarking on the importance of transit, she said, “The role of transit is more than moving people from point a to point b. Transit represents access, freedom, and mobility for people and communities.”

The 2026 COMTO Women Who Move the Nation honorees are:

  • Shalonda Baldwin, California Regional Business Leader, Transportation 
    Infrastructure, WSP, and member, American Public Transportation Foundation Board of Directors
  • Sharon Jean-Baptiste, President, Ardmore Roderick
  • Joi Taylor Dean, President, Richmond Metropolitan Transportation Authority
  • Caroline Decker, Chief Government Affairs Officer, GFT; chair of APTA’s Business Member Legislative Subcommittee; and member of APTA’s Legislative Steering; High-Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail; Planning and Program Development; Sustainability; and Innovative Funding, Finance, and P3 committees
  • Deborah Ale Flint, CEO, Greater Toronto Airports Authority
  • Justine Johnson, Chief Mobility Officer, Michigan’s Office of Future, Mobility, & Electrification
  • Kelli Kelly, Vice President, Business Development & Strategy, Kiewit, and member, APTA Strategic Engagement Council
  • Nadine S. Lee, President & CEO, DART; member, APTA Board of Directors; and member of APTA’s Mobility Management Steering, Planning and Program Development, and BRT committees
  • Melissa Mullinax, Vice President of Growth, HNTB
  • Anna Roach, Executive Director & CEO, Atlanta Regional Commission