With great sadness, we learned of our friend and colleague Robin Antonucci’s passing. Robin had an unforgettable, delightful, and powerful personality that improved people’s lives. She played a vital role in developing our company, mentoring engineers and planners in a profession that she embraced when she first left home for college.
“Since the 1990s, Robin has meant so much to us at Wells + Associates,” said Terry Miller, CEO of the firm. “Due to her professional expertise and personal networks, which were exceptional, Robin was at the center of the development of transportation in the Washington, DC region as it grew at a breakneck pace. But more importantly, she was a great friend and mentor: passionate about her work and nurturing, training, and guiding young professionals in the transportation engineering profession.”
Robin’s career – from transportation planner with the Fairfax County Government to Executive Vice President at Wells + Associates – spanned the entire spectrum of the land development entitlement process, including peer review, transportation demand management, site assessments, and expert testimony before planning boards, elected officials, courts, and numerous citizen groups.
Even as she embraced retirement, she took on opportunities to continue to train engineers and transportation professionals in how to approach transportation challenges.
If you didn’t have the chance to know Robin or work with her, we felt that the best way we could impart a taste of that wonderful experience would be to reprint a Q+A of her that was published on our website for many years. As Robin said in her Q+A which we reprint in this tribute, ‘Embrace the past, cherish the present, and hope for the future.’
Q+A with Robin Antonucci
Q: What motivates you?
A: When I was hired, Marty Wells told me that in all things the “client comes first.” And so for the past nearly 20 years I have lived my W+A work life according to that mantra. I treat each and every project as my own. I am totally invested in the project and give it my heart and soul. And my clients appreciate that I take such a personal investment in their work.
Q: Personal life philosophy?
A: Embrace the past; cherish the present; hope for the future.
Q: The best advice you’ve ever received?
A: I was painfully shy as a child and teen. Before entering engineering school, my father took me out on the porch and said, “You’re entering a profession driven by men. You’ll need to develop a thick skin and learn to play with the big dogs. You must come out of your shell and meet your peers and colleagues on an equal footing. If you can’t do that then change your major to nursing or teaching.” I took my dad’s advice to heart and blossomed in college. I like to think that I play well with the big dogs and have become one of them.
Q: If you could live in any other time period, what would it be and why?
A: Since a teen, I’ve been interested in British history. I’m a total anglophile. I’ve had a long love affair with the Plantagenet family of England, so I would choose the period of King Edward IV. After winning the War of the Roses, the first years of Edward’s reign were marked by a new prosperity and peace in England after 100 years of civil war. With Edward’s death, his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, became King. Richard, contrary to Tudor propaganda, was a great monarch and instituted many reforms. I’d have loved to be part of that period, especially since – based on my family history – my father’s line is tied to the Plantagenets.
Q: Starbucks Order?
A: Venti, non-fat, pumpkin spice latte, extra light whip
Q: Favorite Movie?
A: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off