FREEtheMIBS It’s not about a specific company, it’s not about a specific agency…

It’s about doing what’s right in the interest of interoperability and innovation, while creating free and open competition.

Street Creds
ITS Experience — Q-Free, Intelight, Siemens
Education — BS Civil Engineering
Certifications — PE, PTOE
Association Involvement - AASHTO, IMSA, ITE Industry Council, TRB Signals Committee

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Tom Stiles | Founder

Traffic enginerd, active outdoorsman, construction DIYer, and boating enthusiast.

As the founder of FREEtheMIBS, Tom is a fervent advocate of open standards and innovation. He’s well known for his role in leading the adoption of the ATC controller spec—the most sophisticated and open traffic signal control platform in North America.

Tom’s boat slip is at Q-Free where he’s the EVP of Urban Solutions and freed the MIBs for Intelight MAXTIME.

Street Creds
ITS Experience — Q-Free, McCain
Education — BS Business, MBA Marketing
Association Involvement - ITE Industry Council, IMSA

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Trisha Tunilla | Chair

Marketing maven, equal opportunity wine drinker, and shameless Chargers football fan.

Trisha has more than a decade of experience marketing in the ITS industry. Known for her vibrant personality and dynamic approach to marketing, she’s recognized for her pivotal role in developing the ATC cabinet market.

Trisha currently plays in traffic at Q-Free where she spearheaded the creation of FREEtheMIBS.

Alan Davis

Georgia’s go-to traffic signals guy and long-suffering South Carolina Gamecock fan who chronically browses Zillow for pineapple farms in Hawaii.

For over 15 years, Alan has been working in the intelligent transportation industry for both the public and private sector.

Alan currently leads the Georgia Department of Transportation’s traffic signal and connected vehicle programs. Here, he has worked tirelessly to lead his team to make Georgia DOT the most innovative state agency in active traffic management.

Street Creds
ITS Experience — Georgia DOT, South Carolina DOT
Education — BS Civil Engineering
Certifications — PE, PTOE

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Carlos Ortiz

The man with the (autonomous and connected vehicle) plan.

Carlos has extensive experience in the ITS and traffic engineering fields with 30+ years managing projects for agencies throughout California. As the Chief Operating Officer for ADVANTEC Consulting Engineers, he’s currently working on projects to assist agencies in understanding the autonomous and connected vehicle markets, so they make better decisions on current and future ITS deployments.

Carlos is a former ITE International board member and past-president of the ITE Western District. He is also on the board for ITS California where he serves as the Outreach Chair.

Street Creds
ITS Experience — ADVANTEC
Education — BS Civil Engineering
Certifications — PE, TE, PTOE, CE
Association Involvement - ITE Industry Council, ITE Western District,  ITS California

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Doug Spencer

ITS standards and protocols Sensei…

One of the first agency advocates to stand up for FREEtheMIBs, Doug is a walking encyclopedia of ITS standards and protocols.

A passionate expert in every way,  he is currently the ITS Standards Engineer for the Oregon Department of Transportation where he is responsible for developing and adopting statewide and national ITS standards. And in true Sensei fashion, he helps regional offices, local agencies and other states develop customized engineering design and construction standards for ITS and traffic operations projects.

Street Creds
ITS Experience — Oregon DOT
Education — BS, MS Electrical Engineering
Certifications – PE
Association Involvement - AASHTO, NTCIP

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Ed Smaglik

Car guy with a personal cylinder count of 28…and a pet bird.

Whenever you think about some obscure element of transportation, know that Ed has probably researched it. Not only is he a Professor at Northern Arizona University (NAU) he’s also the Director of the Arizona Laboratory for Applied Transportation Research (AZTrans).

Ed has a plethora of research and teaching experience but he’s not all education, all the time. He’s currently evaluating ITS pilot projects for the Maricopa Association for Governments as well as identifying malfunctioning traffic detectors at signalized intersections through traffic theory for the Oregon DOT.

Street Creds
ITS Experience — NAU, AZTrans
Education — BS, MS, PhD Civil Engineering
Certifications — PE

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John Snedeker

Traffic signal field expert, Disney enthusiast and all around traffic nerd.

With 20 years of experience in the traffic operations and ITS fields, John’s never been squeamish about getting his hands dirty. He’s seen first-hand how devices operate in the field with on-site experience with contractors, government agencies, distributors and manufacturers. He has a vast body of knowledge on different manufacturing systems and issues faced by users across the U.S.

John is currently the Territory Manager for Traffic Control Products, Inc. covering PA, NJ and WV. He is also the third Vice President for IMSA NJ/PA section and the Special Events Coordinator for the City of Harrisburg, PA.    

Street Creds
ITS Experience — Q-Free, Econolite, McCain, Naztec
Certifications — IMSA Level 3   
Association Involvement - IMSA

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Michael Gaertner

International standards man of mystery, and lover of all things related to friends, family and travel… shaken, not stirred (well, stirred is still ok).

With over 30 years of experience in the ITS Industry, from project management to product design and everything in between, Michael lives and breathes traffic.

His traffic acumen is truly global as he has worked in Europe, Latin America and Asia and is now serving as the Vice President of ITS Urban Solutions & R&D at Siemens Mobility in the USA where he was instrumental in freeing the MIBs for Siemens SEPAC local controller software.

Street Creds
ITS Experience — Siemens, Siemens Mobility

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Tam Tran

Traffic signal guru, technologist, adventure seeker, and total night owl.

Tam is as passionate about traffic as he is technology. With more than ten years of ITS experience, he is incredibly demanding in terms of technology and constantly challenging the status quo to realize the maximum benefit of deployed technology.

With agency experience in the states of California and Texas, Tam is currently pushing the technology envelope at the City of Oceanside, a community of roughly 175,000 in San Diego’s North County.

Street Creds
ITS Experience — City of Oceanside, City of Carlsbad, City of Fort Worth
Education — BS Civil Engineering

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