Rita leads ports and airports at NTRO

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Rita Excell to lead the National Transport Research Organisation’s new business in Ports and Airports, adding to our Roads (ARRB), Rail (ACRI) and Certification (ACTA) Businesses.

Previously the Executive Director of the Australia and New Zealand Driverless Vehicle Initiative (ADVI), Ms Excell will now be leading the ports and airports areas in offering innovative research and practical solutions to integrate planning, operations and research in these areas of transport.

“It is exciting to be in this new role, supporting the implementation of innovation and applied research in the ports and airports sectors. It is great to be working at an organisation that is so forward-thinking about our future transport needs,” Ms Excell said.

With a history of more than 20 years of working with airports in areas including parking, asset preservation and innovation in asset design and management, the new focus will be on emerging technology.

ARRB CEO Michael Caltabiano said that ARRB has been transitioning into the National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO) over the past 5 years.

He said Ms Excell’s appointment is part of the NTRO’s mission to serve local, State and Federal governments and the private sector to deliver better, smarter and safer infrastructure outcomes across Road, Rail, Ports and Airports.

“As CEO of ARRB and the NTRO, I am very pleased to announce that I have appointed Rita Excell as Executive Director of NTRO Ports and Airports,” Mr Caltabiano said.

“This portfolio focus will provide this sector with access to NTRO’s extensive skill set in the evaluation of next generation materials, how a connected and autonomous future will impact these important transport modes and what are the long-term asset management outcomes for a lot of aging infrastructure across Australia.”

The National Transport Research Organisation, developed by the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) in response to the shift towards multi-modality in transport policy and operations, will work to secure resilience for our national transport future.

To find out more about the NTRO, visit ntro.org.au.