Jennifer Aument
Global Transportation Executive
Jennifer Aument is a chief executive and transportation industry leader with more than 25 years of experience in the successful development, financing, design, construction, and operations of major transportation infrastructure. Her strategies have supported the successful delivery of two of the nation’s largest public-private infrastructure projects, including the Washington, D.C.-area Capital Beltway HOT Lanes, and the $2.6 billion Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project. Ms. Aument joined AECOM, an infrastructure consulting firm, in January 2021 and was appointed as chief executive of its global transportation business. Ms. Aument oversees AECOM’s global transportation design business to drive innovative transportation solutions that better advance its clients’ goals of delivering safe, sustainable, and cost-effective transportation systems. Before joining AECOM, she was the president and CEO, North American business at Transurban.
Peter J. “Jack” Basso
WSP & J.R. Basso and Associates
Peter J. “Jack” Basso is a nationally recognized expert on transportation finance and policy. Mr. Basso’s career includes leadership roles at WSP, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), as well as senior positions in the US Department of Transportation. From 2001 to February 2013, he oversaw the management of AASHTO as Chief Operating Officer and Business Development Director. In this capacity, he represented the interests of state departments of transportation, developed new member services, and aggressively marketed technical services provided for AASHTO members. He worked closely with congressional staff and associations with mutual interests in transportation financing issues. Before joining AASHTO, Mr. Basso served as Assistant Secretary for Budget and Programs, and as Chief Financial Officer at the US Department of Transportation. In this role, he oversaw the development of a $60-billion budget and interacted with senior officials, members of Congress, and key industry officials on a wide variety of transportation matters. Prior to his appointment to this position, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget and Programs.
Lisa Buglione
Executive Director, AIAI
Convening public and private sectors through education and outreach, AIAI’s executive director Lisa Buglione ensures that the P3 conversation centers on best practices and quality conversations. With more than 20 years of high-profile strategic initiative management and operations experience, Ms. Buglione oversees every aspect of AIAI’s tactical operations and national public outreach initiatives. Ms. Buglione is instrumental to AIAI’s rapid growth in terms of membership, brand awareness and prolific organizational expansion across the country.
Ms. Buglione leads the organization’s nationwide efforts with a focus on good policy, strong programs and partnership as a means to building the organization’s support structure while concurrently promoting national Public-Private Partnership (P3) growth.
Mathew Garver
President & Managing Partner, Liberty Street Capital
Mathew Garver is the President & Managing Partner of Liberty Street Capital. Matt began in the private equity industry in the late ’90s, where he has served as an advisor, private equity investor, partner, board director, corporate development, and financier. He also served as Sec to Global Infra Steering Committee at DLA Piper, world’s largest law firm & Senior Advisor to Patton Boggs, leading global law firms for economics and international projects. Mr. Garver is a Fellow from Harvard University the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, A DFS in Finance and Economics from Saïd Business School at Oxford University, and a BA in Economics from Michigan State Univ. He is the author of numerous articles on regional and international economics. He serves on numerous boards for both private companies and philanthropic foundations.
Matt Girard
Group Head, Asset Delivery – Civil, Plenary Americas
Matt Girard leads the Civil Division for Plenary Americas, and is responsible for project development, delivery, asset management, teaming and business development for all Civil projects in North America.
Matt has more than 25 years of hands-on experience in the heavy-civil construction industry across North America and has been involved with the successful pursuit and on-site management of P3 projects in both the U.S. and Canada for almost 15 years.
Prior to joining Plenary, Matt was a senior executive leading all business development efforts for one of North America’s largest heavy-civil contractors and also has experience working with the largest design consultant in North America, having led their business development efforts on alternative delivery projects in the U.S.
Matt has a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and is a registered Design-Build professional with the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA).
Matt is also heavily engaged in bettering the industry via serving as a committee or board member to multiple engineering and construction advocacy groups.
John Irvine
Senior Manager, External Affairs, Flatiron Construction
John Irvine is a senior manager in external affairs at Flatiron Construction. Prior to this role, Mr. Irvine senior leadership positions include United Bridge Partners, Lane Construction, and COWI.
Mr. Irvine holds a master’s in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Baltimore, a Post-graduate Certificate (PgC) in Transportation Policy & Logistics from George Mason University, and a BA in US History from Kent State University.
Janet Kavinoky
Vice President, External Affairs & Corporate Communications, Vulcan Materials
Janet Kavinoky joined Vulcan Materials Company in September 2015 as Director of Federal and State Governmental Affairs. Drawing on 20 years of federal and state policy and advocacy experience and relationships, she formulates and executes strategies to shape the political, legislative, and regulatory environments that affect Vulcan’s business success and advises Vulcan’s senior leadership team on policy and political developments in Washington, DC, and the 21 states Vulcan serves.
Prior to joining Vulcan, Kavinoky was Executive Director for Transportation & Infrastructure at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce where she led transportation policy, and lobbying efforts, ran the Americans for Transportation Mobility, a nationwide business, labor, and transportation organization coalition, and developed the Let’s Rebuild America (LRA) initiative to raise the profile of infrastructure issues, broaden stakeholder engagement, and create new opportunities for businesses to influence public policy.
Kavinoky started her career at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), consulted for the California DOT during graduate school, and worked with state DOTs at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
Belen Marcos
Executive Vice President & President of VINCI Highways, VINCI Concessions
Ms. Marcos serves as President of VINCI Highways, VINCI Concessions’ road mobility subsidiary, and as Executive Vice President of VINCI Concessions. Ms. Marcos has extensive experience in managing and operating toll highways given her previous roles as the Chief Operating Officer for the Chicago Skyway, the Chief Information Officer for the Indiana Toll Road, and the Chief Executive Officer for the North Tarrant Express and the LBJ Express projects. Before joining VINCI Highways in September 2020, Ms. Marcos served as President of CINTRA US.
Simon Santiago
Partner, Nossaman LLP
Simon Santiago handles contractual, procurement, development, and construction issues for the largest transportation, transit, and multi-modal projects in the U.S. Public sector clients seek his guidance in creating successful infrastructure projects through innovative procurement, financing, and delivery methods including public-private partnerships (P3s).
Given his broad experience, he often advises industry leaders and policymakers on emerging federal legislative and policy issues involving transportation. At the state level, Simon helped develop P3-enabling legislation, procedures, and programs in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. He also counseled the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, the North Carolina Turnpike Authority, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on state and federal law governing all-electronic toll systems.
Before joining Nossaman in 2006, Simon was a litigator with a construction and government contract law firm in Northern Virginia, where he advised public- and private-sector clients on disputes involving large and complex infrastructure projects. He also served as a judicial clerk with the General Services Board of Contract Appeals, assisting in the legal analysis of contract claims and disputes. This collective experience has helped him anticipate potential risks and adjust procurement and contracting strategies accordingly.
Michael Schneider
Managing Principal, InfraStrategies, LLC
Michael Schneider is the Managing Principal of InfraStrategies LLC, a global consultancy providing advisory, advocacy and management services to public authorities and private organizations in the development and implementation of infrastructure programs. The firm’s primary focus is on funding, financing and project delivery, including urban and intercity rail, highways and toll facilities, aviation and ports, and advanced technologies. Mike co-founded the firm after a distinguished career in both the public and private sectors, leading the transportation and advisory practice at Parsons Brinckerhoff (now WSP) and HDR and managing many of the world’s most challenging infrastructure programs. He was a recent recipient of the P3 Partnerships Group Lifetime Achievement Award and was honored in the same capacity by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) for his contribution to the development and implementation of P3 projects around the world..
Mr. Schneider is a long-time member of the Board of Directors and founding chairman of the Committee on Public-Private Partnerships of the American Public Transportation Association. He has been involved in numerous P3 and private sector infrastructure finance programs since the early 1980s as an owner, developer, and advisor, most recently as project director of the advisory team for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) Public-Private Partnership Program and project manager of the Honolulu Rail Transit Project.
Former Board Members
Geoffrey Yarema
Partner, Nossaman, LLP
Founder and former chairman of Nossaman’s Infrastructure Practice Group, Geoffrey S. Yarema has spent more than three decades developing national best practices for innovative procurement, contracting and financing structures that successfully move large transportation projects from concept to reality. These include design-build, design-build-operate-maintain (DBOM), toll concession, availability payment, pre-development and other types of public-private partnership (P3) contracts. His expertise covers the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA), Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing (RRIF), Private Activity Bonds (PABs) and other such tools.
