(Anaheim, Calif. June 2019)

IPMI Chair Roamy Valera, CAPP, CEO, North America PayByPhone, will present his 2019 Chair Awards to Maria Irshad, CAPP, ParkHouston; and Brett Wood, CAPP, PE, Kimley-Horn, at the IPMI Conference & Expo in Anaheim, Calif.

The Chair Awards are bestowed by the current IPMI chair to honor members who have made significant contributions to the work of the chair and the association during the year.

“The IPMI community is full of volunteers who give so generously of their time, but there are two people I want to recognize in particular,” said Valera.

Valera found Irshad deserving for her contributions as a member of the Accredited Parking Organization (APO) Board of Directors, co-chair of the IPMI Professional Recognition Committee, and as a past IPMI Parking Solutions judge. She spearheaded APO for ParkHouston in 2015 and the organization earned APO with Distinction in 2016. Irshad is also incoming president of IPMI’s allied regional association, the Texas Parking & Transportation Association.

At ParkHouston, Irshad manages about 9,500 paid parking spaces and 19 off-street surface lots; the enforcement of all parking codes and the administration of various permits. In her role as Assistant Director, Maria leads a team of 75 and provides parking policy recommendations to the Mayor’s Office.

In also giving Wood a Chair Award, Valera called him the unofficial “mayor” of the CAPP program and recognized his dedication serving as co-chair of the IPMI Research committee and as a member of the association’s Technology Committee. In addition to being a contributor to IPMI’s magazine, blog and two recent books, Wood has also represented the association as a speaker at numerous conferences throughout the year. Wood also serves as a Past President of IPMI’s allied regional association, the Southwest Parking & Transportation Association.

Wood leads Kimley-Horn’s national parking planning group, helping the firm focus on creative and innovative projects that push their clients further along the evolving parking and mobility continuum.

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Media contact:

Helen Sullivan, sullivan@parking-mobility.org, 703 606 7622