One word to describe yourself: Perseverance
Alma Mater: University of Memphis
Fast Fact about yourself: My favorite mode of travel when on vacation is a car or train.
Best advice/tip/best practice to share from your area of expertise? Learn from great mentors around you and take advantage of valuable lessons they can teach you.
Hamed Abshari, P.E., is a senior project manager with CDM Smith. Early in his career, he merged his two passions – public transportation and structural design – to become a dynamic project and program manager, leading multidisciplinary teams in delivering effective and efficient sustainable solutions for lasting infrastructure improvements. In his 17 years in the transportation industry, he has been dedicated to advancing mobility by helping public agencies use design innovation to improve service, operations, safety and infrastructure resilience.
Throughout his career, he has been exposed to the many facets of transit, from capital planning to improvement programs. These diverse experiences have helped him to build a “best practices and lessons learned toolbox” that continues to guide his career journey.
Coming from a background in public service and private consulting, Abshari offers insight and best practices on how to move transit programs forward in the industry. Abshari has worked on many projects for CDM Smith that utilized his experience as the former senior director for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) Green Line Transformation program. His technical skillset includes designing bridges, transit facilities, transit corridors and assessing capital investment to help agencies optimize funding resources.
He also provides advisory services to project teams across the country, bringing a combination of technical knowledge, program management, communication, team building and client service to his position with CDM Smith.
Moving forward in his career, Abshari wants to continue working to grow and diversify transit systems teams in Massachusetts, New England and even nationally.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I love public transportation. Early in my engineering career, I discovered its value in improving the overall transportation industry. Getting to work with the oldest and one of the largest public transportation systems in America and help the people of New England, Mass., enhance their mobility options, is both personally enjoyable and professional satisfying. I take great pride in contributing toward a more sustainable and reliable transportation system, knowing that I am improving people’s life through projects I manage.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
Staffing and allocating the right resources to successfully deliver projects.
Accomplishment you’re most proud of and why?
My work with MBTA is helping to influence how we provide service to other transit agencies across the country. Cross-connecting best practices and lessons learned is invaluable to our clients and it’s a privilege to be a part of it. Concurrently, it allows me to be a better project manager, build my own network and contribute to building successful project teams in the U.S.
About the Author
Eman Abu-Khaled
Associate Editor
Eman Abu-Khaled is a former associate editor with Mass Transit magazine.