Chattanooga Connect Speakers

Kristin White

Kristin White is a dynamic change agent and executive with 20 years of experience transforming transportation for the future. As Google Public Sector’s Transportation Industry Executive, she leverages Google's technology and innovation to invest in the public good, with a focus on safety, resiliency, and connecting communities.

Prior to joining Google, Kristin served as the youngest-ever acting Federal Highway Administrator, where she oversaw the nation's largest transportation agency with over $300 billion in investment. She was also COO of the transportation tech nonprofit ITS America and launched one of the country’s first state-run innovation programs at the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

A lawyer by trade and a Fulbright Fellow in Japan, Kristin’s leadership philosophy is to use technology for good. She leads with heart and authenticity, focusing on servant leadership and empowering women in the industry. Kristin is the recipient of multiple awards, including the Women in Transportation Innovation Award. In her personal time, she mentors women and runs a nonprofit dedicated to advancing women in transportation.

Nathan Buttrey

On August 1, 2025, Nathan Buttrey was appointed Senior Advisor to TNECD Commissioner Stuart McWhorter to lead the state's newly formed Office of Innovation. Backed by Gov. Bill Lee's historic $63M investment in innovation, Buttrey will help position Tennessee as a place where companies research, test, and build for the future, right here in their own backyard. The first initiative of the Office of Innovation is the IRIS Grant, designed to strengthen partnerships between industry and Tennessee's top research institutes.

Prior to joining ECD, Mr. Buttrey led Corporate Development at Altitude Ventures - a Nashville-based investment firm focused on real estate, healthcare VC, and growth equity opportunities. He has additional experience in logistics, HealthIT recruiting and project management, workforce development, politics, and state government having previously served on the staff of Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. Buttrey has a bachelor's degree in Finance from Lipscomb University and Master's degree in Leadership and Organizational Performance from Vanderbilt University. He was raised in Memphis and has lived in the Greater Nashville area since 2009, currently residing in Brentwood, TN, with his wife and four children.

Laura Chace

Laura Chace was named President and CEO of ITS America in August 2021.  Her focus is to promote policies that advance the development and safe deployment of intelligent transportation technologies throughout the United States to save lives and reduce crashes on U.S. roadways, reduce congestion and emissions, and provide seamless mobility and transportation choices for all Americans. Previously, she served as the association’s Chief Operating Officer.

Chace has extensive experience in strategic planning, operations, communications and advocacy, and a proven record implementing complex initiatives with strong engagement and collaboration among stakeholders. 

Chace has served on several advisory committees to U.S. DOT regarding the integration of emerging technologies into our transportation system.

Chace brings 20 years in trade association management, having previously worked at USTelecom and the American Trucking Association. Early in her career, she served in the Clinton Administration at the U.S. Department of Justice Office and in the White House. She holds a Bachelor of Art’s degree from Colgate University.

Rich Davies

Rich Davies is the Director for the Sustainable Transportation Program for the Energy Science and Technology Directorate at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  He has over 30-years of research and development experience in manufacturing for light and heavy-duty ground and aerospace vehicles; as well as developing energy-saving technologies across the US Transportation system.  His experience includes over 25-years in the U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories developing and directing federally funded and privately-funded research programs under collaborative agreements with vehicle manufacturers and transportation entities.  Dr. Davies holds a PhD in Mechanics of Materials from the University of Strasbourg in France, an MBA from the University of Maryland, as well as a Bachelor and Master of Science Degrees in Mechanical Engineering. 

Timothy Drake 

Timothy Drake serves as ITS America’s Vice President for Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs. He brings 10 years of experience in the private and non-profit sectors working on federal, state, and local transportation and infrastructure policy and has experience developing and implementing comprehensive strategic plans regarding policy, legislative, regulatory, and funding priorities. Tim is responsible for developing ITS America’s policy positions on transportation and infrastructure issues including automated and connected vehicles, spectrum, sustainability, resiliency, and smart infrastructure. He is also responsible for ITS America’s interactions with federal agencies, including USDOT, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Department of Energy, as they develop guidance and regulations to implement federal law and policy in these areas. Prior to joining ITS America, Tim was a Public Policy Associate at Squire Patton Boggs, LLP, working on transportation and infrastructure policy and regulatory affairs. He advised public and private sector clients in a variety of issue areas, including infrastructure funding, automated vehicles, transportation technologies, safety regulations, unmanned aircraft systems, economic development, public transportation, and federal agency procurement.

Charles D. Frazier

Charles D. Frazier is Chief Executive Officer of the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA), the public transit system serving Chattanooga and Hamilton County, where he leads initiatives that promote equitable mobility, sustainable infrastructure, and regional economic development.

With more than two decades of leadership in local government and public transportation. Prior to his appointment at CARTA, Charles served as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, managing an annual $175 million budget and more than 850 employees. He also served as CEO of Rock Region METRO, the public transit system serving central Arkansas, and as Assistant Executive Director of Palm Tran in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Today, Charles is proud to lead CARTA as it reimagines transit in Chattanooga, positioning the region as a model for equitable, forward-thinking transportation. He believes strongly in collaboration, lifelong learning, and leadership that reflects the communities it serves.

Neo Han

Neo Han is an experienced Senior Manager at the Global Business Division of LG CNS America, an IT Services and Smart Solutions provider. Neo is in charge of Strategic Partnerships & Business Development with IT industry key players, targeting Digital Transformation (DX)-based projects both in the US market and the global arena. Prior to his career at LG, he was an entrepreneurial professional and a diplomat with government experience and 23 years of business development success. Neo is a multilingual communicator, columnist, media moderator, and frequent keynote speaker at global events and corporate functions, covering future strategies for smart cities with smart technologies.

Toru Hirano

Toru Hirano is a vice president of North America R&D at DENSO. Located at the company’s Silicon Valley Innovation Center in California’s Bay Area, he leads DENSO’s R&D efforts in the region, collaborates closely with DENSO’s global R&D network, and focuses on mid- and long-term technology development.

Hirano first joined DENSO in 2019 as a project manager in DENSO’s Production Engineering Department to lead Knowledge Communication project for Factory IoT. In 2021, he became a project manager in DENSO’s AI Research Department as one of AI experts to support entire company wide AI projects.

Before DENSO, Hirano was a research engineer in NTT Laboratories since 2005 to research and develop Natural Language Processing technologies. In 2016, he became a project manager in NTT East Corporation’s New Business Development Department.

Hirano earned a Doctor of Engineering from Nara Institute of Science and Technology in 2012.

Victoria Hirschberg

Victoria Hirschberg serves as Assistant Vice President and Chief Economic Development Director for the University of Tennessee System. Victoria’s role includes economic development, advising on related policy matters, and increasing corporate engagement to create opportunities to strengthen the university system and state. She liaises with companies and stakeholders to build long-term partnerships with the University of Tennessee. Victoria joined the UT System in August 2022.

Victoria previously served as a director of business development for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD). Her tenure at the state from 2012-2022 led to relationships with more than 250 global and domestic companies, $13 billion in new capital investment and thousands of new jobs for Tennesseans. She has worked in local economic development in Texas and consulted for an Indianapolis-firm focused national workforce and community development projects. 
Hirschberg earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and Latin American studies from State University of New York at Plattsburgh and obtained a dual master’s degree in community and regional planning and Latin American Studies from the University of New Mexico

Mayor Tim Kelly

Tim Kelly is the 66th mayor of Chattanooga. He grew up in Chattanooga and attended undergraduate school at Columbia University. Upon return to Chattanooga, Kelly expanded his family’s automotive dealership and launched several successful ventures of his own, including co-founding Chattanooga’s professional soccer club.

He later earned his MBA from Emory University. Kelly has always been active in the community, serving on boards for multiple nonprofits and even teaching as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.

Since being elected mayor in April 2021, he has made great strides on his vision to create One Chattanooga – a city where every resident has the opportunity to thrive and prosper.

Asad Lesani

Dr. Asad Lesani, VP of Smart Infrastructure Product at Ouster, is a highly accomplished leader with over 12 years of experience in intelligent transportation systems. He co-founded BlueCity Technology in 2018, pioneering an AI-powered lidar platform for multimodal traffic monitoring, which has since been deployed at over 400 intersections globally. With a Ph.D. in Transportation, Asad continues to drive the adoption of lidar as the next generation of traffic solutions, enhancing road safety and mobility worldwide.

Jim Misener

Jim Misener is Senior Director, Product Management and the Global V2X Ecosystem Lead for Qualcomm. He develops and executes V2X deployment strategies, working with automotive, road owner-operator and telecommunications partners.  

Jim was a pioneer in vehicle-highway automation and vehicle safety communication at the California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) at UC Berkeley. He served as the PATH Executive Director, then as Executive Advisor to Booz Allen Hamilton. Currently, Jim is a 5GAA Board member, ITS America Board member, ITS California senior advisor, and serves on the IEEE ITS Society Board of Governors. Jim is also an Advisory Council member to Mobility 21-Traffic 21 led by Carnegie Melon University and on the Technical Advisory Board to the Center for Connected and Automated Transportation and the University of Michigan. Jim holds BS and MS degrees from UCLA and USC and is an IEEE Fellow.

Jordan Moon

Jordan Moon currently serves as Senior Director of Government Affairs for LG Corp., advocating for LG’s policy priorities with lawmakers at the federal, state, and local levels. He joined LG in December 2024.  

Before joining LG, Jordan led Kimberly-Clark’s federal government relations team for two years, where he engaged policymakers on issues ranging from trade, taxation, and regulation of personal care products. He also served as Board Chair of the Center for Baby and Adult Hygiene Products (BAHP), the leading trade association for absorbent hygiene product manufacturers.  

Previously, Jordan spent more than a decade with global automaker Stellantis, where he led federal advocacy efforts on taxation, financial services, and healthcare. He began his career on Capitol Hill, serving as Deputy Chief of Staff and Legislative Director to U.S. Representative Sue Myrick. 

Jordan is a graduate of the College of Charleston and lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife and two children.

Jerele Neeld

Jerele D. Neeld is versatile, executive leader with more than twenty years’ experience working for Fortune 500 global technology companies and a track record of delivering customer and business value beyond what’s normally anticipated. His broad expertise, willingness to take risks responsibly, and multi-disciplinary approach enable him to lead, build, run, transform, and scale-up functions and capabilities no matter the leadership role. Jerele is uniquely skilled at using his entrepreneurial background to see opportunities, to make business cases for pursuing them, and to build strategic plans and the delivery engine to realize them.

Jerele joined the City of Chattanooga, TN in January 2024 to be the Director of Intelligent Cities. In March 2024, Jerele was asked to expand his responsibilities to be Interim Chief Information Officer for the City of Chattanooga. In July 2024, Jerele was appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by City Council to be the city’s permanent Chief Information Officer. Our goal is to make Chattanooga the preeminent mid-size city in the US using leading-edge technologies to make citizens’ use of City infrastructure and services easier, simpler, and better.

Jerele has a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University. He has done additional coursework at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and the C.T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. Jerele was selected to Who’s Who in America 56th Edition.

Janet Rehberg

Janet Rehberg is the current President and CEO-elect of EPB and will officially assume the role of CEO in fall 2026. She will become the eighth CEO—and the first woman—to lead the organization in its 90-year history. Rehberg initially joined EPB as President of the Strategic Initiatives business unit, where she was responsible for implementing long-term strategies to position Chattanooga for the future. Since then, she has helped elevate Chattanooga’s reputation for innovation by forging key partnerships to introduce commercially available quantum computing and prepare the region for the evolving energy landscape. Before joining EPB, she served as Chief Strategy Officer & Vice President of Engineering at Tri-County Electric Cooperative in Aledo, Texas. In that role, she was responsible for formulating strategy and overseeing a wide range of departments. In another previous position, Rehberg led grid modernization efforts for American Electric Power. 

Adam Myers

Adam Myers is an Economic Development profession with over 13 years of experience. Throughout Adam's career, he has assisted the communities he serves in creating over 11,000 new jobs and attracting over $2 billion in investment. Adam currently serves as the Vice President of Economic & Talent Development at the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. There Adam leads the Economic Development department and serves as the organizations Chief Business Recruitment Officer.

Sujith Racha

Sujith Racha brings over 20 years of comprehensive experience in traffic engineering, with a strong background in connected and automated vehicle technologies focusing on how connectivity and automation can transform transportation systems and enhance mobility. His main interest is to support initiatives that accelerate Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) deployment, promote safety through connectivity, and support smart transportation systems.

Currently, Mr. Racha leads several cutting-edge research initiatives in Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAV) at the Federal Highway Administration’s Saxton Transportation Operations Laboratory, located at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. As the ITS Director of Emerging Transportation Technologies within the Surface Transportation Group and Program Manager for the U.S. DOT’s Cooperative Driving Automation (CDA) program, he is at the forefront of demonstrating how CDA technologies can enhance the efficiency and safety of the nation’s surface transportation systems.

His expertise spans a wide range of transportation engineering disciplines, including traffic and corridor studies, traffic analysis and simulation, safety and operational evaluations, NEPA documentation, signal design, signing and marking plans, transportation concept development, ITS and ATMS implementation, intersection improvements, roadway lighting, and environmental studies.

Linked-in profile: www.linkedin.com/in/sujith-racha

Mina Sartipi

Dr. Mina Sartipi is the Executive Director of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) Research Institute and the Founding Director of the Center for Urban Informatics and Progress (CUIP) at UTC. She is also the Guerry Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at UTC and maintains a joint appointment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, focusing her expertise on improving urban mobility and safety through advanced technology. Her goal as the director is to advance R&D and experiential learning profiles in key cross-disciplinary areas leveraging Chattanooga and UTC’s unique assets such as city-wide R&D testbed for the future of mobility and the first commercially available quantum network.

In recent years, Dr. Sartipi has led projects as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) that have secured over $25 million in grants from organizations including the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and others. She has received the 2024 UT President’s Award in the “Nimble and Innovative” category and the 2024 Thomas B. Ballard Advanced Energy Leadership Award. Her contributions to smart city initiatives earned her recognition as a 2019 Chattanooga Influencer, and her work has been honored with the 2019-2023 Smart 50 Awards and the 2019-2021 and 2024 International Data Corporation (IDC) Smart Cities North America Award. Dr. Sartipi earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology and her master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Tech.

She has delivered several keynotes and presentations including presentations to the U.S. Congressional Briefing on Infrastructure, the U.S. Congressional Caucus on Smart Cities, the Smart Cities Connect conference, and the National Transportation Training Directors. An IEEE senior member since 2016, she serves on the board of directors for EPB, The Enterprise Center of Chattanooga, Chattanooga Design Studio, Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation, and Variable, Inc.

Brad Sterz

Brad Stertz is Director of External Affairs representing Audi and the Volkswagen Group in Washington D.C. Brad works on rapidly evolving topics, including semiconductor, AI, trade and connected automated vehicle policies. He also serves as chair of the 5G Automotive Association’s U.S. Policy activities, and as a board member with ITS America and the Coalition for Cyclist Safety. Brad is the founder and chairman of Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE), a coalition of diverse innovators and mobility stakeholders uniting to better equip the public and policymakers about self-driving technologies.

Laszlo Virag

Laszlo Virag has more than 15 years of experience in the field of cooperative vehicle communication and its applications. He gained significant experience in this field at the Institute of Computer Science and Control of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, where he worked on automotive communication protocols and participated in several prototype projects related to vehicle communication. In 2012, he co-founded Commsignia, building its expertise and business unit for smart cities. After his previous roles as CTO and CEO, he has been responsible for the strategic leadership, investor relations and shaping the vision of the company since 2023 as Executive President & Chief Technology Officer.

Yunfei Xu

Dr. Yunfei Xu is the Chief AI Architect at DENSO International America, Inc., where he leads the company’s transformational initiatives in artificial intelligence. Dr. Xu earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Automotive Engineering from Tsinghua University, followed by a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University. With over a decade of experience in research and development within the automotive industry, Dr. Xu has been instrumental in advancing innovative solutions. At DENSO, he leads a diverse range of AI activities, focusing on areas such as autonomous driving, mobility services, and smart infrastructure, which are essential to the future of intelligent transportation. Dr. Xu actively collaborates with academic institutions and industrial partners to promote the adoption of AI technologies, ensuring that cutting-edge research is translated into practical applications that enhance vehicle safety, efficiency, and user experience.