Telos Advisers
Telos Advisers on March 4 announced that Felicia Alexander has joined the company as Senior Director. She is a nationally recognized leader and subject matter expert in infrastructure pre-development and capital funding strategy.
Prior to joining Telos, Alexander served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), where she advanced national initiatives focused on mobility, safety, and economic competitiveness. She also held senior leadership roles at the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
Alexander played a key leadership role overseeing the FTA’s Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program, the federal government’s primary funding source for major transit expansion and modernization projects nationwide. Earlier in her career, she served as Deputy Director and Division Chief at the Maryland State Highway Administration, where she managed $5.4 billion under the state’s six-year Consolidated Transportation Program.
“The entire team at Telos is thrilled to welcome Felicia. She understands how federal programs operate, how projects compete for funding, and what it takes to move initiatives from concept to implementation. Our clients will benefit immediately from her insight and leadership,” said Telos co-founders Eric Daleo and Megan Strickland.
At Telos, Alexander’s work will focus on complex project funding strategy, project management, infrastructure development, and transit-oriented development strategy.
“I understand the complexity of advancing major capital programs in today’s funding environment,” said Alexander. “Telos provides practical, experience-driven guidance to clients navigating complex transportation and infrastructure projects, and I’m proud to join a team with significant public-sector executive experience.”
Alexander’s appointment, the company says, “reflects Telos’ continued commitment to providing clients with the perspective of former senior transportation and infrastructure executives who have led public agencies and delivered major capital programs firsthand,” including former Federal Transit Administration Associate Administrator for Program Management Bruce Robinson, who joined the firm in 2025. Last month, Telos welcomed former Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner to its Strategic Advisory Board.
DART
To celebrate Women’s History Month, COMTO named 10 transit leaders Trailblazing the transportation industry in their annual “Women Who Move the Nation,” Awards, including DART President and CEO Nadine Lee.
Lee and the nine other transportation leaders will be honored at the 15th annual COMTO awards ceremony on April 15 in Washington, D.C.
“It is an honor to represent DART and the North Texas community as I’m recognized alongside my peers in the transportation industry,” said Lee. “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.”
Lee joined DART as President and CEO in 2021 from Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) where she served as Chief of Staff.
In her time at DART, Lee has focused the agency on the Point B initiative, a 10-year strategic approach “to ensure DART is the first-in-mind mobility partner for North Texans.” The first Point B Annual Report, published in 2025, shows significant progress toward agency goals including opening the 26-mile Silver Line commuter rail, advancing $110 million in security and cleanliness contracts, and launching DART Transform, a $2.5 billion system-modernization program.
Denver RTD
Civil rights, equity, and regulatory compliance leader Kellie Irving has been selected as Director of RTD’s Civil Rights Division, effective March 16, following a national search.
Her career spans more than two decades across major public agencies, transportation authorities, health care organizations, and municipal governments. In this pivotal leadership role, she will “develop, plan, direct, and manage the operations of the division, which is responsible for furthering Civil Rights goals through programmatic strategy development and implementation, training, community outreach, regulatory compliance, and complaint investigation.”
She will report to the Deputy CEO, with a dotted line to the General Manager and CEO in her role as the Accountable Executive with ultimate responsibility for carrying out the agency’s Civil Rights program as required by the FTA.
Irving is respected for her leadership in Title VI and VII, ADA Title II and III, Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), Small Business Enterprise (SBE), Minority/Women Business Enterprise (M/WBE), and socioeconomic program implementation. “She is a lifelong advocate for equitable access and inclusive opportunity and has built a reputation for transforming compliance programs into engines of transparency, accountability, and community impact,” the agency noted.
“My career in regulatory compliance has been an exciting journey, defined by a deep respect for fairness and transparency,” Irving said. “Through years of honing my craft across this great nation in different states and agencies, I have learned that while governance is visionary and leadership is necessary, our employees are priceless, and the citizens are the reason we serve. I am truly honored to have been selected as Director of the Civil Rights Division for RTD. As a dedicated public administrator, I commit myself to the Denver community with a standard of excellence and a heart for service.”
Irving served most recently as Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity for the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration, where she oversaw compliance with federal, state, and local civil rights laws; managed a team of 20 professionals; and directed a $1.5 million departmental budget. Prior to that, Irving was DBE Program Manager for the Maryland Transit Solutions Joint Venture, supporting the $2.3 billion Purple Line project. She led DBE program guidance, staff supervision, outreach, and all written project communications, ensuring certified firms had meaningful access to contracting opportunities.
From 2022 to 2024, Irving served as Deputy Assistant Director for the Houston Airports System Office of Business Opportunity, where she directed Minority and Women, Small, and Persons with Disabilities Business Enterprise (MW/S/PDBE) and Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) compliance for one of the nation’s largest airport systems. Earlier roles include Manager of Regulatory Compliance and Civil Rights for Long Beach Transit; DBE Administrator for the San Mateo County (California) Transportation Authority; Compliance Director for the Consolidated Government of Augusta, Georgia; and Diversity Programs Director for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana.
In addition to her public sector leadership, Irving has extensive entrepreneurial experience as Principal Consultant of Taylor Sloane & Associates, a boutique consulting firm specializing in diversity, affirmative action, government relations, and community engagement. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration with an emphasis in Urban Administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills. She also holds certificates in Spanish for Public Service, Alternative Dispute Resolution – Mediation, OSHA Construction Safety, and Plan Reading.
