- One word to describe yourself: Driven
- Alma Mater: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (B.S.) and Florida Institute of Technology (M.S.)
- Favorite book: “Harry Potter" by J. K. Rowling
- Favorite TV show: “The Big Bang Theory”
- Favorite movie: “Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary"
- Favorite hobby(ies): Travelling with her family to experience new cultures and to learn about the history of the country and its people.
- Fun fact about yourself: She wants to be a Midwife when she retire from transit work.
- What is your favorite transit system (outside of the one you work for or have worked for!) and why?: The Tube in London. The London Underground was the first time she had used a large transit system while she was there in college doing a study abroad program. She was amazed at how easily she could zip around the city to get to classes and to all the best tourist destinations. She also loved seeing the mix of local commuters and tourists all making their way around the city so may were proud to live in and so many were excited to visit.
Julie Marshall joined Sound Transit in 2014 as a systems corridor design manager and brought with her 7 years of experience working with two major rail communications and systems engineering solution providers. Immediately after joining Sound Transit, Marshall was tasked to manage and negotiate two critical operating agreements with the University of Washington (UW) regarding vibration and magnetic fields. These operating agreements were the culmination of a 10-year partnership between Sound Transit and the UW to allow Sound Transit to design, construct, and operate link light rail service under the university’s campus. These agreements fulfilled Sound Transit’s commitment and responsibility to demonstrate, through a comprehensive testing program, that light rail operations for the 3.15 mile University Link extension did not impact the campus’ sensitive research equipment. In addition, the agreements provided detailed communication and reporting protocols between Sound Transit and UW for notification and verification of, and response to, suspected and confirmed vibration and magnetic field threshold exceedances and trends.
The agency’s success in opening this $1.9B extension 6 months ahead of schedule would not have been possible without Marshall’s leadership, attention to detail, and exceptional coordination/collaboration between all parties to secure the required agreements prior to opening in March of 2016. In addition to Marshall’s work on the University Link Extension, as a corridor design manager, she also oversees two major systems design projects for the 4.3 mile Northgate Link light rail extension and the 8.5 mile Lynnwood Link light rail extension. The Northgate extension is currently under construction and includes twin bored tunnels, two underground stations, and one elevated station that extends from the currently operating UW station to Northgate station. In this role, Marshall works closely with the design consultants and the GC/CM contractors as well as internal construction management and operations departments to manage a wide range of topics and issues needing attention and coordination. The Lynnwood project is a fully grade-separated light rail extension that will connect Northgate station through four cities and terminate at the Lynnwood Transit Center. The project spans through four cities and will include four light rail stations and provisions for two additional light rail stations.
Similarly to the Northgate project, Marshall is often the point of contact related to all systems related design activities and works proactively with all stakeholders to address design and construction issues as well as developing an integrated test and commissioning schedule between her two projects. Marshall is also one of the Sound Transit staff that participated in our internally developed and award winning (2015 National Transit Institute Model Training Program Award) Management Excellence Program that provides over 100 training hours on management skills, conflict resolution, continuous process improvement and emotional intelligence. As part of her commitment to furthering Sound Transit’s ability to continue to deliver projects on time and on budget, Marshall drew on her past experience of working on complex projects and developed a pilot project to introduce a Systems Engineering framework at Sound Transit in response to the November 2016 voter approval of Sound Transit 3 (ST3) transportation package.
As part of ST3, Sound Transit will undertake an ambitious mass transit system expansion to deliver another 116-miles of light rail network with more than 80 stations serving 16 cities, expand the commuter rail system to serve 12 cities, and expand the Bus Rapid Transit and ST Express buses to serve an additional 30 cities. With this large of an expansion, Marshall’s proposal for a Systems Engineering framework would help improve efficiencies in both project and program management by providing a consistent process for requirements management and as a proven method to integrate all disciplines throughout the lifecycle of a project. Her vision and tenacity for implementing this framework at Sound Transit is guided by her knowledge and experience about the subject as well as its demonstrated success on other large projects throughout the United States as a way to effectively address the challenges associated with large, complex transportation projects. Marshall is an active member of The International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) Seattle Metro Chapter and is currently pursuing her Project Management Professional (PMP) and Associate DBIA certifications.
"I enjoy working with so many talented colleagues in a wide range of diverse fields like geo-tech, architecture, systems, and environmental planning just to name a few. Their expertise is so different than my background that I am able to learn something new all the time which is refreshing and I find it fascinating what we build such great."
"I enjoy seeing people use a product that I contributed to, it is very fulfilling. I also like that is makes my city more accessible and appealing for those to visit which makes me proud because I love the area where I live, it is so beautiful, and I love that other people can come and enjoy it as much as my family and I do."
"My direct contribution to the successful opening our latest light-rail segment on time, and under budget. I was new to the Agency and assigned to negotiate an agreement with one of our more prominent stakeholders, to which if we were not successful we would not have been allowed to open for revenue service."
