WMATA names Impastato safety chief

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) last week named Theresa Impastato executive vice president and chief safety officer, effective Aug. 12. 

Most recently, Impastato was deputy chief safety officer of Amtrak, where she led the drafting and implementation of the railroad’s first safety management system and oversaw Federal Railroad Administration safety certification programs for Amtrak’s new high-speed trainsets, rolling stock procurements and facilities projects, WMATA officials said in a press release.

Previously, she was in charge of system safety for New Jersey Transit’s light-rail service between Camden and Trenton, New Jersey, and worked in the private sector as an analyst and systems engineer.

Impastato has served as a rail system safety instructor for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Transportation Safety Institute, and is a member of safety committees for the American Public Transportation Association, the American Association of Railroads and the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association.  

In her role, Impastato will succeed Doug Connett, who has served as acting chief safety officer since the departure of Patrick Lavin in May.