Annual awards silent auction
We are honored and extremely thankful to Jim Davis, Sabrina Drago, and Hillary Norton for donating their time to our Silent Auction. If you would like to win a virtual one-on-one meeting with one or multiple of these guests, place your bid before tonight's ceremony ends.
How To Participate:
Place your bid in the Bidding Form and refresh the webpage to see the Bidding Results update. The Bidding Results might take a few minutes to update. If you are the winning bidder, we will contact you after the Annual Dinner with more information on payment and how to schedule your virtual meeting.
Tonight, we are awarding $20,000 to nine deserving young women and we would not be able to do this without your support. All proceeds from this silent auction goes towards our WTS Foundation, which funds our scholarship program for future years.
James (jim) davis
Caltrans Chief Deputy Director
Governor Gavin Newsom named Jim Davis Chief Deputy Director of Caltrans in
September 2019. Davis oversees all operations comprising nearly 22,000 employees; a
$15.5 billion budget; the massive SB 1 infrastructure program; major efficiency efforts; and
leadership development.
A Caltrans veteran of 32 years, Davis is recognized as a fervent champion of Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion and all policies supporting these fundamental standards. Davis' driving support
of an equitable California consistently shapes his management approach at Caltrans.
Additionally, he is committed to combating issues resulting from rapidly increasing Climate
Change. Systematically incorporating these principles into Caltrans' 5 Priorities—Safety,
Modality, Innovation, Efficiency, Partnerships—Davis leads by example to ensure Californians
are provided a brighter future for all.
Previously, Davis was Special Advisor to the Caltrans Director, and, from 2013 to 2018, he
served as Division Chief of Project Management & Capital Outlay Support managing half of
Caltrans operations. This immersed him in the policy and budget aspects of project delivery, and he oversaw teams managing 3,200 capital projects worth more than $40 billion.
His project delivery expertise made him a natural to oversee and coordinate all aspects of California's landmark Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act (SB 1). In its second fiscal year, the program achieved $233 million in new cost and efficiency savings.
Davis possesses a passion for developing organizational leaders and expert problem-solvers, especially as the transportation industry enters one of its most transformative eras. He has advanced and promoted internal leadership training programs and mentored many current Caltrans leaders. His own professional development included exchanges with corporations such as Cisco, Disney and Intel and foreign delegations from Japan, South Korea, Sweden and Taiwan.
In addition, Davis has served as District 4 Director for the Bay Area and sat on many regional, state and national transportation boards and committees. This included serving as Vice Chair for AASHTO's Project Management Technical Committee from 2016-2018.
He graduated in 1988 from the University of Kansas with a B.S. in civil engineering. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Project Management Institute, Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) and the International Association of Foundation Drilling.
Over the years, Davis has enjoyed significant involvement with youth sports in the city of Davis; he has served as president, board member, coach and volunteer. He and his wife Lori have two children.
Bidding form
Bidding Results
sabrina drago
Executive Director of the Sacramento Transportation Authority
Sabrina Drago is a California native with nearly two decades of experience in the transportation industry. Graduating from Cal Poly Pomona with a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering she went straight into her Master’s program at Stanford, earning an MSCE with an emphasis in structural engineering and geomechanics. After settling into her new job in San Francisco, her boyfriend (now husband) dangled the prospect of inexpensive housing and they were off to Arizona with a 5-year plan that lasted 13 years.
These years were formative and ignited a passion in her for all things transportation-related. Sabrina started as a design engineer, moving into business development, and finally engaging in tax measures and funding. This motivated her to get her MBA and seek a management position so she switched to a corporate quality position overseeing 3,800 employees in 31 offices over 14 states.
Not one to be stagnant, Sabrina and her family moved back to California to
be nearer to family and she accepted a position with WSP. She led their
Sacramento office, responsible for operations and growth. She served as
the Principal-in-Charge or technical advisor on several of Sacramento’s high
profile transportation projects including the PCPTA Mobility Action Plan,
SacRT High-Capacity Transit Study, Caltrans US50 Design Build, and
Caltrans Statewide Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments and
Adaption Plans.
In November of 2020, an opportunity to join the public sector came and
Sabrina was selected by the Sacramento Transportation Authority’s
Governing Board to serve as their Executive Director. The STA oversees the
implementation of Sacramento County’s Measure A program, which is a
30-year ½-cent sales tax and development fee program to fund
transportation projects. She works closely with the incorporated cities,
Sacramento County, SacRT and the Connector JPA to program projects,
allocate appropriate funding and leverage other funding sources.
As Sabrina looks back over the almost two decades of her career, she credits her success to those that came before her and greatly appreciates all the support and guidance she received along the way. Understanding how important networking and mentoring was to her career, she seeks to return that favor and share her love of the industry. She participated in the WTS Mid-Career Leadership program, served as a mentor in her WTS Phoenix Chapter, and is an active member of the Sacramento chapter. Sabrina also previously served on the Board for the ACEC Sierra Chapter and on the Committee for the PCPTA Transportation Funding Measure. She currently serves on a Municipal Advisory Council for her County Supervisor and is a founding board member for a regional economic alliance.
In her spare time, she informally mentors a handful of professionals and is amazed at the upcoming talent and fuels her passion for our industry. And in 2020, she was named one of ENR’s top professionals under 40.
She is a licensed civil engineer in California and Arizona. And, when she’s not dreaming about highway interchanges, transit corridors, or ways to ease traffic congestion on I-80, she enjoys cooking and reading. Sabrina lives in Loomis with her husband, Chad, kids Claire and Jack, cat Poppy, and quarantine puppy, Otto.
Bidding form
Bidding Results
Hilary Norton
Chair of the California Transportation Commission
Hilary Norton is the Chairwoman of the California Transportation Commission (CTC).
Hilary was appointed to the CTC by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2019. She
brings over 30 years of experience in transportation and community development to her
Commission role. Her primary goals as CTC Chair include investing SB1 gas tax funds
into California’s transportation infrastructure system in order to improve outcomes in
equity, mobility across numerous modes, safety, environment/climate change resilience,
and economic growth.
As Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic (FAST)’s founding Executive Director since 2008,
Ms. Norton has mobilized a diverse coalition of business, labor, civic groups, educational
institutions and transit organizations to support policy and infrastructure improvements to
LA’s mobility, livability and economic prosperity. FAST’s major initiatives include:
1) FASTLinkDTLA – a new Transportation Management Organization (TMO) for
Downtown LA, which operated one of the first ever in LA County micro-transit systems,
connecting travelers through the flexLA multi-mobility app, and connecting new
on-demand wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAV), transit, vanpools, carpools, scooters,
bike share, biking and walking; 2) Mobility Hubs – carshare, bikeshare, bike parking, EV
charging and traveler services at transit stations, job and education centers;
3) comprehensive arterial improvements to improve travel time, encourage mode shift,
and promote safety and transit connectivity; 4) Metro ExpressLanes implementation throughout LA County, creating the Metro ExpressLanes Business Roundtable to support the I-110/I-10 pilot corridors and expand them into a network; 5) Expanding LA County’s bus rapid transit (BRT) network; and 6) Sixth Street Viaduct, Sixth Street Park and Arts District Station – which is the largest bridge reconstruction project in LA’s history, adding bicycle and pedestrian lanes, and connections to the LA River and the Metro Red/Purple Line.
Ms. Norton served as 2018 chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Business Federation (BizFed), and is on the Board of Directors of the Central City Association. She co-chairs the Transportation Committees for BizFed, the LA Chamber of Commerce, and the LA Business Council (LABC).
Ms. Norton also served as the Business Representative on LA County Metro’s Policy Advisory Committee and was a member of the Advisory Boards for Metro’s Office of Extraordinary Innovation and Metro’s Next Gen Bus Study. She is a member of SCAG’s GLUE Council and its TDM Working Group.
Ms. Norton holds a BA from Wellesley College and a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She is the mother of two adults, Xavier and Eva Orozco.
