The purpose of mobility is to connect people to where they live, work and learn. As COVID impacts the future of work it also impacts the future of mobility in our cities. We have to think of both at the same time. In 2017, I joined Bret Boyd at Grayline Group where we sought out to work with organizations to adapt to a changing world. Along the way, I realized that my experiences in business, academia, the military and public service highlighted a similar set of patterns that if recognized, allowed a team or individual to be more effective in their mission.
One such area is the future of mobility and transportation. And in any success on the subject I remind folks that better ground mobility will lead to better upward mobility for its people. Building on my experience from co-founding RideScout and then later working with Mercedes, I began to see a real opportunity to help improve the future of work by creating better strategies for our future mobility and transportation planning in our cities.
And now, with COVID accelerating trends that were already set in motion, we are seeing that future much sooner than anyone thought.
I welcome you to read more about that in my latest post on our Grayline website. In the piece I open the discussion on several topics we need to be discussing not just in the United States but worldwide. They include:
1- The role of automation, artificial intelligence and driverless vehicles in our urban planning
2- How might our car dependency change as more people enjoy remote work as they finally have a real chance to work from home
3- What might it look like if we start integrating contactless tracing into our transportation systems?
4- How do we address privacy concerns and other challenges for post-COVID mobility?
5- Finally, what role does the delivery of goods and services play in the coronavirus era?
In addition, you might enjoy this hour long Catalyst TALKS discussion that I had with graduate students from San Jose State University studying management and policy in transportation.
The class, MTM 217 Leadership and Management in Transportation Organizations, is a study of the human resource aspects of managing transportation systems, including labor/management collaboration/negotiation and consultative employee relations programs. It builds skills in leadership and team building within the context of bringing about organizational change in a complex transportation system. This course is a graduate level course in the Master of Science in Transportation Management offered by the Lucas College of Business at San José State University, with support from the Mineta Transportation Institute.
As always, let me know your ideas.
Joseph co-founded a company, built it from scratch, then sold it to Mercedes. He stayed on with them to advise their senior leadership and assist in their evolution as a mobility company. From those experiences, he and Bret Boyd wrote the book, Catalyst, chronicling the opportunities and challenges in the 21st Century economy for business and policy makers. He’s an active investor and mentor to dozens of companies.
After running for Congress, he’s now an Executive-in-Residence at the McCombs School of Business at UT-Austin. Today, Joseph is using those experiences as well as his own 20 years of service in the Army (including time as a Special Assistant to the CEO of the Army) to build the next generation of leaders in some of the most exciting companies and public entities in America.
In addition, Kopser is a public speaker, technology entrepreneur and expert in transportation, smart cities, urban mobility, energy, national security issues as well as an Army combat veteran. He joined the consulting company Grayline where we work with people and companies to bring together experts, data, and solutions to help companies and public institutions manage disruptive change. Currently, his primary focus is the future of work in the Post-COVID era.
He served in the U.S. Army for 20 years earning the Combat Action Badge, Army Ranger Tab and Bronze Star. He’s a graduate of West Point with a BS in Aerospace Engineering and also received a Masters from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2002. In 2013, Kopser was recognized as a White House Champion of Change for my efforts in Energy and Transportation. In 2014, our company, RideScout, won the U.S. Department of Transportation Data Innovation Award.
In his free time, Kopser works with The Bunker, an organization dedicated to supporting veteran entrepreneurs. In 2019, he became the inaugural Chairman of the Board of Advisors for the CleanTX Foundation, an economic development and professional association for cleantech companies. He’s been married to Amy for over 25 years living in Austin and together they are extremely proud of their three adult daughters.
