Ferries Conference is produced by Colibri Northwest. Happening October 16, 2025.
Ferries Conference is produced by Colibri Northwest. Happening October 16, 2025.
Terry Federer is a seasoned maritime leader and educator with a strong focus on team collaboration, workforce development, and industry partnerships. With a US Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential as a 1600-ton master and unlimited mate, Terry brings extensive hands-on experience and strategic insight to the marine industry.
He previously served as department director of the Alaska Maritime Training Center at AVTEC in Seward, Alaska—home to the state’s largest maritime training school and a division of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. During his 21 years in Alaska, Terry played a pivotal role in shaping maritime education and building career pathways for the next generation of mariners.
After relocating to Washington, Terry joined All American Marine in Bellingham as business development manager, where he helped drive innovation in shipbuilding and strengthen client relationships.
In October 2022, he was appointed Marine Division director at King County Metro Transit in Seattle. In this role, he leads efforts to deliver safe, efficient, environmentally responsible, and customer-focused, passenger-only ferry services connecting downtown Seattle with Vashon Island and West Seattle.
Madison Hite is the senior director of government affairs at Accelerate Strategies. Before joining Accelerate Strategies, Madison worked on Capitol Hill for Senators Shelley Moore Capito and Lamar Alexander, handling appropriations and covering numerous issue portfolios, including sports, environment and public works, and foreign policy. Pulling from her previous congressional experience and leveraging her extensive relationships on Capitol Hill and in the executive branch, Madison helps Accelerate clients achieve positive outcomes through the legislative and regulatory process. Madison has extensive experience in transit policy and has played a key role in the development of existing federal grant programs that support public ferry systems. Madison earned her undergraduate degree in government at Wofford College.
Lauren Gularte is the government and regulatory affairs manager for San Francisco Bay Ferry, a regional public transit agency responsible for developing, operating and expanding ferry service on the San Francisco Bay and coordinating emergency water transit when regional transportation systems are disrupted.
Since 2005, Lauren has worked in many positions at SF Bay Ferry and on an array of projects including the consolidation and takeover of municipal ferry services, overhauling the agency’s emergency response program and helping develop the agency’s fleet plan to transition to zero emissions. She currently manages the agency’s legislative program, federal civil rights programs, and specializes in building advocacy coalitions to support SF Bay Ferry’s programs and services. Lauren is also a co-chair of the Public Ferry Coalition, a national organization representing the interests of more than 30 public ferry operators across the country.
Lauren is a life-long Bay Area resident, receiving a BA in sociology and a Master of Public Policy from Mills College in Oakland.
Bio coming soon.
Emily Lubin Loper is a vice president of public policy at the Bay Area Council, a policy organization that has been shaping the future of the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 75 years. She originally joined the Bay Area Council in 2014 and now leads its transportation policy portfolio. In 2018, she advocated for the successful passage of Regional Measure 3, the largest regional measure in the history of the Bay Area to fund transportation improvement projects, and she led the advocacy to secure significant capital and operating funding to expand regional ferry service in that expenditure plan. She convenes private and public sector partners to facilitate the expansion of ferry service to new markets.
Prior to joining the Council, she worked on transportation, environmental, and land use issues facing the San Francisco Bay shoreline, and has experience working in federal and local legislative offices. Loper holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the USC Price School of Public Policy, where she was a Dean’s Merit Scholar, and received a BA in political science and international relations from UCLA. An East Bay native, she lives in Oakland with her husband and young children.
Bio coming soon.
State Rep. Greg Nance has represented the 23rd Legislative District (most of Kitsap County) since 2023. Greg is committed to the people and communities of Kitsap. He is focused on strengthening our schools, bolstering our workforce, growing mental health resources, and protecting our environment.
Rep. Greg Nance proudly represents Kitsap in the Washington House of Representatives. A lifelong ferry rider, he serves on the House Transportation Committee and is the vice chair of the Legislature’s Maritime Caucus.
Peter and his team work with transit agencies, municipal administrators, elected officials and associations to develop policy, communicate policy to stakeholders and successfully implement public policy in the field. Areas of particular expertise include marine transit policy, industrial and urban land use, print communications and public relations. Peter has 35 years of experience in maritime publishing, conference production, industrial and marine lands policy, and advocacy for the maritime and commercial fishing industries. From 1999-2020 Peter was president of Philips Publishing Group and publisher of Fishermen’s News, Foghorn and Pacific Maritime Magazine, monthly magazines for the commercial fishing, marine transit, and maritime transportation industries.
Nousheen is an urban planner from Pinellas County, Florida, working at the intersection of land use, transportation and economic development. In her role at Forward Pinellas, she leads local and regional planning initiatives to advance projects from vision to implementation, connecting people to opportunities through data-driven decision-making, strategic policy and community engagement. Her experience includes crafting context-driven development standards, aligning local land use plans and regional transportation priorities and translating community feedback and technical data into strategies that expand mobility options and create opportunities for all.
Bio coming soon.
Brian Shalk is a principal and project manager at Power Engineering Construction Co., where he leads delivery of complex marine infrastructure projects along the West Coast. A licensed civil engineer with more than 15 years of experience, Brian has led construction projects ranging from ferry terminals to subsea cable installations and restoration of ocean outfalls. He played a key role in the design-build expansion of the Downtown San Francisco Ferry Terminal—and is driving the firm’s growth in commercial diving and the subsea cable market.
Brian holds a BS in civil engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and an MBA from UC Davis.
David is a co-founder and the managing director of Artemis Technologies, North America, based in New York.
Prior to moving to the US, David was instrumental in the creation of the Belfast Maritime Consortium, including securing a £33m grant from UK Research and Innovation’s Strength in Places Fund to develop the company’s transformative eFoiler® technology and launch the world’s first 100% electric foiling commercial vessel. He was chair of Maritime UK’s Regional Council, a member of the UK Department for Transport’s Maritime Council which was established in 2023 to provide the top level of governance across all themes and drive delivery of the UK government’s Maritime 2050 recommendations, as well as a member of Operation Zero working groups, a UK government initiative launched during COP26 with the mission to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission vessels for offshore wind operations and maintenance in the North Sea’s wind farms.
David holds a law degree from the University of Birmingham, and prior to co-founding Artemis Technologies, was commercial director for the Artemis Racing America’s Cup challenge.
Amy Volz is the division chief for the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) office of Program Management, Urbanized Area Programs Division. Amy has been with FTA since October of 2020 and supports FTA’s competitive programs including the Passenger Ferry Grant Program, Electric or Low-Emitting Ferry Pilot Program, and the Ferry Service for Rural Communities. She has held positions in both the public and private sector, including the California Air Resources Board as a sustainable communities planner and AECOM as a new mobility project manager. Amy received her bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, San Diego and master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of California, Irvine.
The schedule, topics, and speakers are subject to change. Want to hear from a particular leader or expert? Please reach out to us.
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