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Letter from the President

As I reflect on the last year, I realize how quickly time passed as President and CEO of the Eno Center for Transportation. Thanks to the skilled leadership of Emil Frankel, who served as the interim CEO prior to my arrival, Eno was able to continue to provide high-quality research, practical policy recommendations, and leadership development courses throughout the transition. On behalf of the staff, the Board, and the Eno community, I would like to thank Emil for his service during that time.

Today, the mission of Eno is to cultivate a creative and innovative workforce and to impact emerging issues for the nation’s multi-modal transportation. In terms

of our policy work, we continue to inform and affect important conversations in Washington and beyond. Notable is our ongoing leadership on air traffic control which is shaping up to be the most significant reform that industry has seen in a generation. On the ground, our Digital Cities initiative operates at the nexus between transportation and technology and I am very proud of Eno’s solid research and policy work around autonomous vehicles. Our Transportation at the Ballot Box initiative produced the first database to catalog every transportation measure on the ballot in 2016 (regardless of mode).

I am pleased with our research and policy work, but there is even more to be done on a number of fronts.  This year, we are continuing all of our current initiatives and also pushing forward into new and relevant areas, such as procurement reform and workforce development.

Eno also cultivates creative leadership in the transportation industry through our courses and seminars. Each year, the Future Leaders Development Conference gives 20 of the nation’s top graduate students a first-hand look at how transportation policies are developed. Our excellent Transit Senior Executive Program is a year-long leadership development session with more than 500 dedicated alumni while the Transit Mid-Manager Seminar is an intensive course for honing leadership and management skills. In 2016, Eno launched a major initiative with four transit agencies to share agency best practices, build a network of professionals, and generally improve the people-readiness of the public transportation industry.

Together, these training programs provide future transportation and transit leaders with valuable and practical tools to improve their career and their skills.

On the communications front, Eno Transportation Weekly (ETW) continues to be the premier source of policy and budget insights and analysis both on the Hill and across the industry.  Last year, ETW expanded its readership by more than one-third, hired a new editor, and debuted Point/Counterpoint ­– a new op-ed vs. op-ed series that has pitted the likes of Senator James Inhofe against Senator Barbara Boxer. At the same time, our team of in-demand experts crisscrossed the country speaking at conferences, penning commentary, and providing advice to a range of public, private, and nonprofit leaders.

As a nonprofit ourselves, Eno relies on a broad and diverse funding base to achieve all that impact. This includes philanthropies, associations, government, individuals, and corporations.  Eno is committed to transparency in all we do and, to that end, our funding sources and donor list is included in this report and accessible on our website.

As an organization, Eno values integrity, independence, objectivity, quality, and relevance. These core values are reflected in everything we do, every day, and will continue to be our core values.

I’ve always had great respect for Eno, and in the last year, I came to realize that Eno is much more than just the research it conducts or the classes it provides.  In fact, the real secret to Eno’s success is that we are the hub of a network of incredibly talented and engaged stakeholders from across all modes of transportation, all levels of government, and including public and private actors.  

This progress report is a chance for us to show the impact of our collective efforts, reflect on the year past, and lay out our vision for the future. Importantly, it is also a chance for us to thank our donors, colleagues and partners for their continued support and engagement.  Because of you, Eno is still 96-years young, with the innovation, energy, and entrepreneurial spirit of a startup and the depth of knowledge and experience of a longstanding institution. 

Sincerely,

President & CEO, Eno Center for Transportation

Robert Puentes, President & CEO

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