Charles Wade’s professional background has been centered in transportation planning. Until he enrolled in the Operations Academy Senior Management Program at the University of Maryland, he didn’t know how much transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) overlapped with his work. As Director of the Bureau of Planning and Economic Development at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) Charles’s courses at the Operations Academy enriched his knowledge base of TSMO by allowing him to hear from other practitioners more closely tied to TSMO activities.
In the Operations Academy, he participated in classes that included detailed discussions about all aspects of communication and offered great reinforcement to what he had learned over his 19 years in the transportation industry. Those discussions showed him how to refine his communication skills so that he could do a better job of promoting the benefits of TSMO practices to his upper management.
“WisDOT doesn’t have an enterprise-wide view of TSMO for the whole state, so I came in to learn,” Charles said. “My group authored a long-range planning document for our department and took a close look at how we could apply TSMO practices to our entire department. Now, some of those plans, created with our newly acquired skills from Operations Academy, are part of our new multi-modal, long-range transportation plan for our department.”
A transportation plan is federally required. Their document encompasses the department’s vision and how to incorporate TSMO into its overall goals.
“Among other things, we authored a state freight plan, including procedures for how to operate those facilities, and future updates to those plans will be enhanced through the knowledge I gained at the Operations Academy,” he continued. “I came to learn all those things, and I accomplished what I needed to. If we decide that a more comprehensive TSMO approach makes more sense for WisDOT, then I have the knowledge to direct that.”
Since his experience at the Operations Academy, he has been able to have more informed conversations with TSMO experts and put together his department’s needs with more clarity.
Because his day-to-day practice area is not directly involved with TSMO activities, he gained insight from attending the Operations Academy, describing it as the only resource in the country that pulls together transportation professionals to learn more about this area. As a planner, Charles is required to interact with everyone in other areas, but for others who only work in one aspect of transportation, the Operations Academy offers new, valuable perspectives.
“I also connected with all Operations Academy graduates through the Listserve, which is a very valuable tool that gives you access to an incredible resource of experts across the country,” he said. “You post questions that you have about what you’re experiencing in your work, and you get timely responses from all over the country. It functions very well and it’s something I use often.”
Completing the two-week coursework was challenging and took a lot of time, but Charles highly recommends it to anyone who wants to advance in their career.
