People news from OCTA, Port NOLA and ASLRRA

The Orange County Transportation Authority in California has appointed Rose Casey executive director of planning. She succeeds Kia Mortazavi, who retired in March after nearly 40 years of transportation planning in Orange County. Casey will lead the authority's planning division, which is responsible for developing long-range transportation plans, guiding sustainable and equitable mobility initiatives, and coordinating regionally with stakeholders to address the county’s evolving transportation needs. She has been with OCTA for more than 17 years, most recently serving as director of programs. 

The Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) has named Loren Marino vice president of external affairs and chief of staff. She will oversee community engagement, ensure effective communication and execution across the port and New Orleans Public Belt Railroad and lead strategic planning for human resources, procurement, IT and marketing and communications. Marino comes to the port from Jefferson Parish, where she most recently served as senior assistant parish attorney. She is a seasoned government executive with a strong track record in public service, combining high-level policy making experience with hands-on constituent engagement to address community needs effectively, port officials said in a press release.

The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association recently hired Prashant Bhargava as manager of IT systems and database management. Bhargava has nearly a decade of experience in a variety of sectors such as nonprofits, federal government contracting and education technology. He also has experience in technology integration efforts for multiple mergers and acquisitions. Although he's new to the short-line freight-rail industry, Bhargava has always found railroads fascinating. He has fond memories of taking cross-country train trips as a child while visiting family in India, and these days, he and his wife often use Amtrak to visit his parents in New Jersey, ASLRRA officials said in a press release.