Meet the keynote panel everyone will be talking about
Our second #ACT25 keynote announcement has arrived – and it's a big one! Join us on Monday, August 4 for a high-energy morning panel titled "Resilience in Motion: Advancing Transportation for a Stronger New Orleans." Featuring speakers Lona Hankins, Camille Manning-Broome, and Greg Nichols, as well as moderator Ian Todreas, this session is the perfect start to kick off the conference.
New Orleans knows a thing or two about resilience! From rising tides to rising commute times, the region is facing the future head-on. Join top leaders from New Orleans’ transportation and planning agencies for a dynamic, interactive session exploring how the region is building resilience while advancing TDM strategies. Panelists will discuss how the city continues to implement sustainable and equitable transportation solutions in the face of significant environmental challenges.
What to expect:
- Real talk on the progress and challenge to build a resilient, multimodal transportation system for the region.
- Understanding of the collaborative relationships among public agencies, private partners, and community groups teaming up to create more transportation options.
- Insight into the region’s long-term mobility goals and the critical role TDM will play in achieving them.
Audience participation is encouraged—come ready with your questions and ideas for this engaging and forward-looking discussion.
Keynote sponsored by: 
Learn more
Join us in New Orleans
Meet the speakers and moderator
Lona Hankins
CEO, New Orleans Regional Transit Authority
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Lona Hankins serves as the Authority’s chief executive officer. Previously, she served as the RTA's chief of infrastructure and long-term planning. In that position, Lona oversaw the development and execution of capital assets and the implementation of infrastructure improvement projects across all modes of the Authority’s transit operations and administration.
In her over 30 years of work experience in the industrial and public sector, Lona has spearheaded the rebuilding of New Orleans schools during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Previously serving as the director of major capital projects for the Recovery School District (RSD), Lona completed over $2.0 billion in projects across 40 school campuses for the children of New Orleans.
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Camille Manning-Broome
President and CEO, Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX)
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Camille Manning-Broome is the President and CEO of the Center for Planning Excellence, where her leadership and expertise on climate adaptation, people-first infrastructure, and resident-led community planning has been sought out from peers across the globe. She leads a dynamic and multi-disciplinary team that has delivered land use plans to over 75 communities across Louisiana and partnered with all scales of government to adopt policies that realize communities’ vision for strategic policy development and land use decision making.
After the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Camille was among the first land use planners on the ground working across 36 local governments to develop the Louisiana Speaks recovery plans. She served as Deputy Director of Operations for FEMA’s Long-Term Community Recovery and was later recruited to the Shaw Group to develop a planning department, where she also co-authored Louisiana’s first Coastal Master Plan. She has been published in a number of scientific journals and national publications, and has been a US delegate on Congressional trips to the Netherlands, Japan, Scotland, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
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Greg Nichols
Deputy Chief Resilience Officer, Office of Resilience and Sustainability, City of New Orleans
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Greg Nichols leads the Office of Resilience and Sustainability for the City of New Orleans, where he coordinates the strategy, funding and implementation of the Resilient New Orleans and Climate Action Plans. Those plans include strategies to reduce the City’s greenhouse gas emissions from energy use, transportation, and waste, as well as improve the City’s ability to withstand our changing climate in order to build a stronger, more inclusive, and resilient city.
In a previous role managing public facilities for the City, Greg led the implementation of 39 energy efficiency projects which reduced energy use in City buildings by 23% over a three-year period and is working to broaden that success to the City’s overall climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.
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Ian Todreas
US Head of Sustainability Solutions,
SLR Consulting
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Ian Todreas is the US Head of Sustainability Solutions for SLR Consulting, an international sustainability consulting firm. Ian has a long history in TDM and supporting ACT. He has published research on the prevalence and efficacy of guaranteed ride home programs, been nationally recognized by the Transportation Research Board for his work linking commuter benefit programs to climate change mitigation, and pioneered a new methodology to prioritize, measure, and manage TDM policies and programs to meet aggressive and long-term climate action goals.
A frequently sought-after facilitator for high level strategic planning, scenario planning, and team building engagements, Ian brings kindness, good humor (and sometimes bad jokes), a passion for climate action, environmental protection, and car-submissive living to all his work. He is also a budding portrait artist (both people and canines) and art history buff. Ian holds a degree from Brown University in European History and a degree from Johns Hopkins University in International Affairs.
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