STV welcomes Robert Spillar as senior vice president, national director of smart cities

STV has tapped Robert J. Spillar, P.E., for senior vice president and national director of smart cities.

Spillar will lead STV’s new multidisciplinary smart cities practice, a fully-integrated suite of thinkers, planners, finance experts, designers, procurement and grant consultants, digital technologists and program managers, as part of the firm’s advisory services offerings. He will be based in Austin, Texas.

In this new role, Spillar will advise public and private clients on urban strategies, including long-range budget development and cost/revenue options, as they consider different approaches in mobility, social infrastructure, urban solutions, decarbonization and public resources management. He will integrate his knowledge of urban development, technology and financing to help clients preserve existing community resources (i.e., place keeping) and develop new ones (i.e., placemaking).

“We are excited to welcome a national thought leader of Robert’s caliber to STV’s team,” said Marcos Díaz González, STV executive vice president for advisory and program management services. “He brings a unique perspective at the intersection of mobility, technology and public space. His expertise will directly benefit our clients as they explore forward-looking policies and planning, innovative funding solutions and multi-faceted delivery programs for their urban infrastructure challenges.”

With more than three decades of public and private sector experience at the forefront of transportation and smart solutions for city and state governments, Spillar is an executive with proven success in transit and freeway development, urban mobility innovations, large multi-modal infrastructure planning and programming, smart city mobility and regional leadership.

Most recently, Spillar served as director of transportation for the city of Austin. Accomplishments included more than $1 billion in successfully approved mobility bonds, adoption of the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, full modernization of the municipal signal system, development of a state-of-the-art mobility management center (MMC) and the establishment of a parking management program and full modernization of the City's on-street managed parking system. He also served as director of traffic management for the city of Seattle and held management positions in the private sector.

A registered professional engineer in Texas and Washington, Spillar earned his Bachelor of Science in civil engineering with honors from the University of Texas, Austin, and his Master of Science in civil engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle. He has served on the boards of MOVABILITY and the National Association of City Transportation Officials and the Research Advisory Committee for the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI).