One of our goals for SLS is to ensure our attendees learn ways to improve the leadership skills necessary to advance their careers within engineering. We want our attendees to not only learn about potentially hiring companies, but also about the people that make up that company. Meet our distinguished speakers!
BANQUET HOST: Westwood Professional Services KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Paul Villaluz, P.E., PTOE UNLV graduate Paul Villaluz, P.E., PTOE, RSP1, is a Senior Project Manager with Westwood Professional Services. He has extensive experience in geometric design, traffic operations, and traffic safety during his twenty-four (24) year career. He has led multiple teams that have prepared traffic impact analyses (TIA) for site developments and renewable energy plants around the United States. He served as the primary traffic study reviewer for Nye County (NV) Public Works from 2008 to 2009 and as the primary traffic design reviewer for Manatee County (FL) Public Works from 2012 to 2016. Mr. Villaluz is an experienced traffic signal, permanent signing and pavement marking, streetlighting, Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) infrastructure, and work zone traffic control designer. Mr. Villaluz served in the Nevada Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) for six years and was the ITE Nevada Section’s first Immediate Past President. Mr. Villaluz was the chairman and the corresponding lead author for "Sight Triangle and Corner Clearance Policies at Intersections and Driveways: An ITE Informational Report". This report won the ITE 2015 Coordinating Council Best Project Award signifying that it was the best project completed during 2014 by an ITE council. He was an instructor for ITE’s “Work Zone Maintenance of Traffic and Construction Staging” course in 2020 and is currently an instructor with ITE’s Transportation Impact Analysis Training Program. GOLD SPONSOR: Kimley-Horn SPEAKER 1: Lindsay Saner, P.E., PTOE, RSP2I Lindsay is a transportation engineer with Kimley-Horn in Las Vegas. A Michigan native, she earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s in Civil Engineering from Michigan Tech before leaving the long winters behind for the desert Southwest. Over the last 18 years, Lindsay has worked on numerous transportation projects in Las Vegas, including traffic impact analyses for major resort-casinos, multimodal plans, and complete streets studies, but her passion is traffic safety – making our roads safer for all users. In her free time, Lindsay enjoys road-trips, camping, and being outdoors. Kimley-Horn SPEAKER 2: Emily Roberts, E.I.T. Emily is an analyst in Kimley-Horn’s Las Vegas office with experience in a variety of transportation planning, traffic operations, and transportation safety projects. In the past three years she has worked on traffic impact studies, traffic operation studies, event management plans, bicycle and pedestrian plans, parking master plans and NDOT Safety Management Plans. Emily is originally from Ohio and received her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Arizona in 2019. PUBLIC SECTOR REPRESENTATIVES:
Speaker 1: Alyssa A. Rodriguez, P.E., PTOE (F) ITE International Past President Alyssa Rodriguez serves as the Director of Information Technology for the City of Henderson, NV, USA. Henderson is a full-service city of over 320,000 residents located in the southeast corner of the Las Vegas Valley. Alyssa has a diverse employment history including municipal engineering, consulting, and academia. Her background includes a wide variety of transportation engineering and planning projects as well as maintenance and asset management systems and fleet management. Recent work in smart cities and transportation technology led to the role in information technology. She is a Professional Engineer registered in the states of Nevada and California. A proud Montana State University (MSU) Bobcat, Alyssa received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from MSU and volunteered with the Alumni Foundation. Alyssa’s participation with ITE includes leadership roles at all levels of the organization. Speaker 2: Sean Robinson, P.E., PTOE, ENV SP, MPA Sean Robinson is an Engineering Project Manager at the City of Las Vegas Public Works Department. Sean worked for the first part of his career as a consultant at a private national consulting firm focusing on large commercial and gaming civil projects. He currently works for the Transportation Engineering Division and manages programs and projects related to transportation, including traffic safety, advanced mobility and capital improvement projects. Sean graduated from the University of Nevada Las Vegas with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2010 and a Master's in Public Administration in 2021. He is active within the engineering community and is a current member of ITE and is the current ASCE Nevada Section President. He is the past ASCE YMF Southern Nevada President and Southern Nevada President for the local chapter of the National Society of Professional Engineers. He enjoys spending time with his family, finding good eats and can be found chasing his four-year-old on the weekends. |
Best Tips Towards a Successful Presidency!
Presented by: Benny Balderrama
Our leadership speaker will be discussing how to lead your organization and tackle any tricky issues that may arise during your time in office!
RSO SPEAKER: BENNY BALDERRAMA
I was born and raised in Southern California, West Covina, and attended the University of La Verne for my B.S. in Psychology, 2012, and then the University of Southern California for my M.Ed., 2014. After graduating with my master's, I moved and spent almost 5 years in Virginia for my first professional job as the Coordinator, and then, Assistant Director of Student Life. I currently work at UNLV in the Student Involvement & Activities office where I help oversee our nearly 400 clubs and orgs and look to rebuild our office and programming as we attempt to get back to "normal." After 8 years, I still find myself excited and passionate about this field! |