Henrika Buchanan is joining HNTB Corporation as national transit practice consultant and VP, focusing on advancing the growth of the firm’s profile in the transit industry while providing strategic advice to HNTB’s transit team and clients. She is a senior policy and expert technical resource for the firm, located in Arlington, Va.

“I am pleased to welcome Henrika to HNTB,” said Ronnie Hakim, HNTB national transit/rail market sector leader and senior vice president. “She is widely known throughout the industry as a proven leader, innovator, strategist and trusted advisor.”

Buchanan has more than 20 years of experience with the Federal Transit Administration, including administering the federal transit funding program at the regional and headquarters levels, and directing the transit safety, major capital project oversight and program oversight compliance programs.

Prior to joining HNTB, she served in the FTA as associate administrator for transit safety and oversight and chief safety officer. She led a national transit safety program and monitored program compliance to ensure safe, reliable, and equitable transit service in accordance with FTA policy and regulatory requirements.

Buchanan was chosen to lead the FTA’s COVID-19 recovery efforts, which included developing real-time guidance, grant requirements, and training to the transit industry, implementing the federal mask requirement for public transportation, and effectively extending the compliance deadline for the Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan regulation. She was responsible for the programmatic oversight of $70 billion in supplemental funding allocated to the transit industry for COVID-19 response and recovery.

Additionally, Buchanan previously served as the FTA associate administrator, Office of Program Management, and the director of the Office of Transit Programs. In that capacity, she was responsible for implementing the FTA’s project management oversight program used to monitor a portfolio of $117 billion in Capital Investment Grant Program grant agreements with transit agencies across the nation.