The former Federal Highway Administration planning and program development manager has led statewide transportation efforts for Texas, Virginia and North Carolina.
Richmond, Va. (Jan. 7, 2022) — Woolpert has hired Unwanna Dabney, Ph.D., a leader in multimodal transportation planning, program development and innovation at the federal, state and local levels. Dabney will serve as a program director, supporting the firm’s state and federal transportation planning, infrastructure and strategy initiatives.
Dabney earned her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering technology and her master’s and doctorate in public policy and administration. She served with the Federal Highway Administration and the Virginia Department of Transportation as a planning and engineering manager and led transportation planning practices for two global engineering firms. Dabney managed statewide transportation planning projects in Texas, Virginia and North Carolina, providing multimodal and mobility guidance, evaluating VDOT’s SMART SCALE programs to align projects and funding, and monitoring legislation, regulations, industry trends and policy changes.
In joining Woolpert, Dabney will help the firm develop a more robust transportation planning practice and identify projects and products that benefit from and advance the intersection of engineering and geospatial technologies. She will lend her federal and state transportation management experience to a dedicated Woolpert team that is helping clients optimize their infrastructure stimulus funding.
“Fusing information and project data informs sound decisions, and no other firm in the industry has access to the technical data that Woolpert has developed and manages,” Dabney said. “Everything I’ve accomplished as a manager has been based on good data. Woolpert built the GIS databases for applications that travelers use every day and has continued to expand those databases over decades to support transportation technologies and applications.”
Dabney said she joined Woolpert because the company’s industry-leading geospatial data and technologies are the future of transportation planning and design. She said it also was important to join a firm that values its people and treats them as vital assets in the delivery of projects, products and services. That aspect of Woolpert’s culture, including its work to advance equity and diversity, was clear from the start.
“The firm’s HONORS program, which works with HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities) and federal agencies to create a pipeline to get minority and underrepresented students into the engineering profession, is a great example of Woolpert’s commitment to inclusion and diversity,” Dabney said. “The opportunity to work for a company that allows me to do what I love while supporting my alma mater, South Carolina State University, really sealed the deal to work for Woolpert.”
Market Director Judi Craig said the firm is honored that Dabney chose Woolpert.
“Unwanna is a natural leader whose first priority has always been to help communities succeed,” Craig said. “Her more than 24 years of public and private sector experience enable her to connect the dots for any client, helping them get from where they are to where they want to be. She is a great fit, and we are so happy to have her here.”
About Woolpert
Woolpert is the premier architecture, engineering, geospatial (AEG) and strategic consulting firm, with a vision to become one of the best companies in the world. We innovate within and across markets to effectively serve public, private and government clients worldwide. Woolpert is an ENR Top 150 Global Design Firm, recently earned its sixth-straight Great Place to Work certification, and actively nurtures a culture of growth, inclusion, diversity and respect. Founded in 1911 in Dayton, Ohio, Woolpert has been America’s fastest-growing AEG firm since 2015. The firm has more than 1,600 employees and 60 offices on four continents. For more, visit woolpert.com.
