Introducing ATSIP’s New Executive Director

The Executive Board is pleased to announce the hiring of ATSIP’s new executive director, Tara Casanova Powell. Tara has over twenty years of experience in the field of road safety and is the Principal of Casanova Powell Consulting, an independent traffic safety research consulting firm. She is also the project lead for a NHTSA cooperative agreement with the Network of Employees for Traffic Safety to expand employer-based traffic safety programs in the U.S. through assistance from State Highway Safety Offices (SHSO).
The bulk of Tara’s early career was at Preusser Research Group (PRG) where she was employed for seventeen years. AT PRG, Tara led several national and state projects involving alcohol and drug impaired driving, occupant protection, teen driving in relation to graduated licensing, pedestrian and bike safety, older drivers, distracted driving, and speed.
Tara is a consultant for the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) Consulting Services Initiative, a founding member of the Connecticut Statewide Impaired Driving Task Force, a faculty staff member for the National Center for DWI Courts (NCDC), and a member of the Institute for Behavioral Health’s Drugged Driving Committee. She was recently appointed to the Leadership Committee of the Transportation Research Board’s Alcohol and other Drug Committee, and the Treatment Measures Working Group of the International Council of Alcohol, Drugs, and Transportation Safety where she is also a member. Additionally, Tara serves as an expert panelist for the Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program 2018 Distracted Driving Initiative. Tara is a volunteer for the Connecticut Draft Horse Rescue, a non-profit organization dedicated to saving the lives of draft horses that were bound for slaughter and/or victims of starvation, neglect, and abuse. Tara and her husband Scott live in Virginia Beach with their beloved boxer, Riley.

Subscribe

* indicates required
Stacey Manware

As Deputy Director of Centralized Court Services for the State of Connecticut’s Judicial Branch, Stacey Manware directs the development and implementation of electronic citation and adjudication systems Statewide. A long-standing member of the Connecticut Traffic Records Coordinating Committee, she is the judicial champion of an award winning comprehensive paperless platform for motor vehicle infractions from issuance to placement on the driver history record. Attorney Manware is an adjunct professor of legal research and writing at Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Fordham University (Bronx, NY) and Juris Doctor from New England Law School (Boston, MA).

Tara Powell Casanova

Tara Casanova Powell is the Principal of Casanova Powell Consulting, an independent traffic safety research consulting firm and the current CEO for the Association of Transportation Safety Information Professionals (ATSIP). Tara is the former Program Coordinator for the Annual Lifesavers National Conference on Roadway Safety Priorities and a Research Consultant for Acusensus and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). Tara also serves as a faculty staff member for Impaired Driving Solutions, formerly the National Center for DWI Courts (NCDC), under “All Rise”. With over 25 years of experience in the field of road safety, Tara’s career has spanned several niches within this community.

Tara has been engaged with the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine for several years where she currently serves as the Chair for the Impairment in Transportation Committee and was the Chair of the 2021 TRB Drug-Impaired Driving Conference Planning Committee. Tara also founded and Chairs the International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS) Impaired Driving Behavioral Intervention Working Group (IDBIIIG) and has recently been elected to the ICADTS Board of Directors as an At Large Member.

In 2023, Tara co-authored the Impact of Compliance-Based Removal Laws on Alcohol-Impaired Driving Recidivism for GHSA, and “Rideshare Volume and DUI Incidents in Boston, Worcester, and Northampton, Massachusetts”, a collaborative project between Lyft and Uber developed for the National Association of District Attorneys (NDAA). Prior reports include “Rideshare Volume and DUI Incidents in Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; and Fort Worth, Texas” and “Rideshare Volume and DUI Incidents in Target California Communities” in collaboration with Lyft and also developed for NDAA. Through Tara’s judicial experience, she authored “A GUIDE TO DUI PRETRIAL SERVICES Key Components & Best Practice Recommendations” prepared for the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility illustrating Pretrial Services Early Intervention Programs for DWI Offenders.

Tara has also conducted extensive research on distracted driving including several studies with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and Preusser Research Group in NY, CT, Northern Virgina, and Maryland and served on the Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program (BTSCRP) expert panel for the completed project “Examining the Implications of Legislation and Enforcement on Electronic Device Use While Driving”.

Tara’s professional experience and network span several roadway safety priorities, with expertise in impaired driving, distracted driving, speed, occupant protection, and traffic records that transcend barriers that often exist within the silos of the transportation profession. Tara is very passionate about her role in transportation safety and has worked to connect traffic safety professionals including research scientist; federal, state, and local practitioners; law enforcement; and traffic records data professionals to work together to work towards ZERO deaths and to provide equitable transportation for all road users.  

Cory Hutchinson

Cory Hutchinson currently serves as the Director for the Center for Analytics and Research in Transportation Safety (CARTS) at Louisiana State University.  He earned a MS in Quantitative Business Analysis, a MBA, and a PhD in Human Resource Education and Workforce Development from LSU.  Within CARTS, Cory oversees all IT related projects including business analytics, web site design, data quality analysis, electronic crash data collection, data reporting, disaster recovery, graphical information systems, business intelligence, and crash data integration.  Cory also teaches graduate level Business Intelligence courses within the College of Business at LSU.

Membership Profile

 Ms. Andrea Bill is the Director of the Wisconsin Local Technical Assistance Program and Associate Director of the Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory and Eastern Tribal Technical Assistance Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With these roles, she has been bringing research to technology transfer through in person and virtual webinars throughout Wisconsin and the U.S.  She is a passionate advocate for making research tangible to practitioners and to foster implementation and widespread adoption. 

Ryan Klitzsch, a certified Road Safety Professional (RSP), has more than 15 years of experience in transportation safety planning, including eight years as the Administrator the Indiana Highway Safety Office. Currently, Mr. Klitzsch is as a Senior Associate of Cambridge Systematics working in the areas of transportation safety policy, traffic records data, and planning. In this position, he has leveraged his practical highway safety office expertise in data and performance management with states to develop and implement countermeasures to move our roadways closer Toward Zero Deaths. Mr. Klitzsch has developed planning strategies for emerging technologies, Strategic Highway Safety Plans, Highway Safety Plans, Bicycle and Pedestrian plans, and Traffic Records Strategic Plans for more than a dozen states.