Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, senior vice president, national practice consultant at HNTB, has been recognised with the 2026 Sharon D. Banks Award for Humanitarian Leadership in Transportation.
It will be presented on Wednesday 14 January, 2026 during the chair’s Plenary Session portion of the TRB Annual Meeting at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.
The biennial award was established in memory of Sharon D. Banks, former general manager of AC Transit in Oakland, California, and chair of the TRB Executive Committee in 1998.
She died in 1999 and the award recognises “innovative and successful leadership in people-oriented initiatives in transportation, sustained over an extended period, that exemplify Banks’ ideals of humanity and service”, TRB says.
Gutierrez-Scaccetti, a former president of tolling association IBTTA, is the latest recipient because of “her exceptional leadership, her vision for connectivity, and her unwavering commitment to the users of transportation systems”, the citation reads.
“Diane is recognised for her career-long efforts to ensure that transportation systems truly serve the people who rely on them. Through her leadership, Gutierrez-Scaccetti has advanced a clear philosophy: that transportation is the circulatory system of the economy, connecting communities, enabling opportunity, and enriching quality of life.”
“She has consistently emphasised transparency, customer service, and the principle that a safe, reliable, and efficient transportation system should be something the public can take for granted—not because it is forgotten, but because it is expected.”
She began her public service in the Mercer County, New Jersey Affirmative Action Office, where she expanded opportunity by helping minority contractors learn how to prequalify and bid on county contracts.
Gutierrez-Scaccetti then joined the New Jersey Treasurer’s Office and on to a two-decade career at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, where she rose to executive director.
In 2011, she became executive director and CEO of Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise before returning to New Jersey as commissioner of transportation.
TRB mentions various projects, including her launch of the Commitment to Communities initiative to help local governments deliver projects that directly improve residents’ daily lives – and it says she advanced the Transportation Infrastructure Bank to provide low-cost loans for local projects.
Her collaboration with the charitable organisation United for Alice (Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed) is described as “particularly meaningful”.
Alice populations live above the poverty line yet cannot afford basic living expenses. Many hold multiple jobs but still lack essentials such as reliable transportation, which limits access to employment, health care, and shopping.
Gutierrez-Scaccetti “consistently considers” how transportation projects might benefit these populations, “such as adding sidewalks to bridges for safer pedestrian crossings or incorporating opportunities for light rail or bus rapid transit in major reconstruction projects”.
Gutierrez-Scaccetti was a member of the TRB Executive Committee from 2019-22 and served as chair in 2023, as well serving on several other TRB committees and panels.
