San Lee recalls his time completing courses in the Operations Academy Senior Management Program at the University of Maryland as a special opportunity that yielded many benefits for himself as well as for the Colorado Department of Transportation (CODOT), where he has been a State Traffic Engineer for 21 years. It was a serious commitment of time and effort, but the experience represents a pivotal point in his career.
When he attended the Operations Academy as a younger engineer in 2014, the program helped him understand the big picture of transportation systems and management operations (TSMO) and gave him the tools to communicate operations strategy to his organization. Since attending, the connections he’d made nationally helped launch him into positions in which he could create more positive impact.
“I’m now on committee leadership teams that would not have happened had I not gone to the Operations Academy, and I have been able to start programs from the ground up at CODOT,” San explained. “With the relationships I built, and with the communication skills I learned, I was able to influence others to invest in the new ideas I had to start new programs for my state, and I continue to do it today.”
When projects are created, communication does not always take place with key stakeholders such as maintenance crews or first responders. He learned how to address this problem at the Academy.
“Better communication is the core skill set that helps us build the culture of TSMO,” he continued. “At the Operations Academy, I obtained the skills I needed to open those conversations and not work in silos. It helped me to see that engineers would do their jobs better if they had more communication with the others who are involved in a project. Facilitating that communication is a key skill I brought back from the Operations Academy.”
Because he broadened his knowledge about TSMO at the Operations Academy, he came out with so much more insight about how everyone works together. Until then, he had only worked on traffic-related projects but graduated from the program able to build TSMO programs that were the first his state had ever had.
“What I learned is that ultimately, TSMO is a culture. It’s something you practice,” he said. “It means collaboration, communication, and creating a culture in which lines are open. If you learn about TSMO strategies and start bringing it to your agency, you will begin to see the benefits.”
Others should view the chance to attend as an opportunity that should not be turned down, calling it a time to network, build, hear others’ experiences and connect with them for guidance and advice for the rest of their professional lives.
In the decade that has passed since he completed the program, San enjoys the lifelong connections he made and considers the relationships he established to be among the most important takeaways of the two-week experience. He remains connected to many people he met through the program and relies on their support to this day.
“We look at every project through a safety and operations lens. We incorporate every safety operation feature we can,” San said. “I couldn’t have done it without learning how to communicate it to our executives.”
San still displays his completion certificate from the Operations Academy in a frame in his office.
“I’ve kept it all this time and I love it when people ask me about it. Everyone in the transportation industry sees it as a value, and I’m proud to display it. I’m proud of the people I know and still communicate with from the program,” he said.
