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1/26/2026
NARSTCO has promoted Kristin Ward to general manager, Craig Smethie to vice president of operations and Zachary Matheney to customer service manager. Ward brings more than 30 years of executive leadership experience in customer service and operations to her expanded role at NARSTCO, where she has worked for the past 17 years. Most recently, she was director of customer service. Smethie has over 20 years of manufacturing and operations leadership experience, including six years as the company's director of operations. Matheny joined NARSTCO in 2019 as a quality control inspector and in 2020 was promoted to project coordinator. Founded in 1996, NARSTCO manufactures steel ties, turnouts and e-clips.
North County Transit-San Diego Railroad (NCTD) has promoted Ioni Tcholakova to director of service planning to support NCTD’s mission to provide safe, reliable and innovative transportation services. She joined NCTD in 2021 as a transit planner and has since been promoted to senior transit planner and manager of service planning. During her tenure, she has led planning for major service changes, conducted complex route and GIS analyses, coordinated stakeholder engagement for NCTD+ micro transit services, and managed multiple Caltrans-funded planning initiatives. “Her leadership has already shaped key service improvements and planning initiatives, and we are excited to see her continue to advance NCTD’s vision in this expanded role," said NCTD CEO Shawn Donaghy in a press release.
HDR Inc. has named Brian Buchanan the firm's transit program management lead. He has years of experience leading major transit programs, including Project Connect, the first light-rail program in Austin, Texas; and the $1.4 billion light-rail New Starts project in Phoenix. Before joining HDR in 2018, Buchanan spent nearly 15 years managing projects and planning for public agencies, where he gained valuable perspective on the needs of transit systems, HDR officials said in a press release.