How Do Communities Move Transportation Plans from Ideas to Action?

Join Nashville Connector and the Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure for the 4th Annual Nashville Transportation Demand Management Summit on Friday, September 18, 2026, at Nissan Stadium.

This year’s theme, Moving Beyond the Plan: Implementing TDM, will explore how partnerships, policy, infrastructure, programs, and innovation can turn transportation plans into meaningful improvements for commuters, employers, developments, major destinations, and communities.

Transportation Demand Management, commonly known as TDM, uses programs, policies, services, and incentives to expand transportation choices and help people travel more efficiently. TDM can increase access to transit, encourage carpooling and vanpooling, support walking and bicycling, improve the daily commute, reduce parking demand, and help communities make the most of their transportation investments.

The Summit will bring together transportation leaders, government agencies, employers, developers, venue operators, planners, nonprofit organizations, and community partners from Nashville and across the region.

Interested in using Bird, Lime, or Spin e-bikes and e-scooters to get to the Summit? Use code TDMSUMMIT2026 for a free ride to or from Nissan Stadium. 

Nissan Stadium - Wesley Mortgage Club

1 Titans Way, Nashville TN 37213

The opening session will welcome attendees to the 4th Annual Transportation Demand Management Summit and introduce this year’s theme, “Moving Beyond the Plan: Implementing Transportation Demand Management.” Speakers will set the stage for the day by highlighting the importance of turning transportation plans into action through leadership, collaboration, and practical implementation.

The session will also recognize TDM Week, connect the Summit’s focus to Nashville’s transportation priorities, and welcome attendees to Nissan Stadium.

Communities cannot build their way out of every transportation challenge. Investments in transit, sidewalks, bikeways and other mobility infrastructure are essential, but infrastructure alone does not change how people travel. Transportation Demand Management helps communities maximize those investments by making transportation choices practical, understandable and attractive.

Jonathan Hopkins will explore how TDM is evolving from a collection of individual programs into a core component of transportation planning, policy and implementation. Attendees will learn how infrastructure, communications, incentives, supportive policies and cross-sector partnerships work together to influence travel behavior and expand access to opportunity.

• Jonathan Hopkins, TDM-CP, CEO, Smart Mobility Associates; Executive Director, WPBgo; At-Large Director, Association for Commuter Transportation Board of Directors

Rapid growth and changing travel patterns are creating new expectations for how transportation systems serve their communities. Voter approval can provide the resources and public mandate needed to respond—but the most challenging work begins after the vote, when agencies must turn ambitious commitments into visible, reliable, and lasting improvements.

This executive conversation brings together transportation leaders from Cincinnati and Nashville to explore what happens after voters say yes. Drawing on Cincinnati Metro’s experience implementing Reinventing Metro and Nashville’s work to deliver Choose How You Move, panelists will discuss how leaders establish priorities, deliver early improvements, expand transit service, coordinate infrastructure investments, and advance complex projects such as bus rapid transit.

The conversation will examine the leadership decisions and organizational capacity required to implement a multiyear transportation program while continuing to operate the existing system. Panelists will also discuss how agencies can balance quick wins with long-term investments, maintain public confidence, and work with local governments, employers, and community partners to ensure transportation investments result in meaningful improvements for the people they serve.

Attendees will gain practical insights into the opportunities, challenges, partnerships, and lessons that emerge when a community moves from voter approval to implementation.

• Andy Aiello, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, Cincinnati Metro
• Stephen G. Bland, Chief Executive Officer, WeGo Public Transit
• Sabrina Sussman, Chief Program Officer, Choose How You Move, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County
• Amanda Vandegrift, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Finance & Administration, WeGo Public Transit

Providing transit service is only the first step toward increasing ridership. People are more likely to use transit when service is reliable, destinations are easy to reach, transportation information is clear and employers, developers, venues and community leaders actively connect people with available options.

Panelists will explore how development decisions, destination access, customer communications, employer- and property-based transportation programs, first- and last-mile connections and community partnerships can turn transit availability into actual transit use.

• Brandy Jones, APR, Chief Communications & Marketing Officer, Cincinnati Metro
• Debbie Frank, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Growth & Development, WeGo Public Transit
• Michael Briggs, AICP, Deputy Chief Program Officer, Choose How You Move, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County
• TBA

The Honorable Freddie O’Connell, Mayor, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County

Mayor O’Connell will offer brief remarks on Nashville’s transportation future and the importance of expanding safe, reliable, and practical ways to move throughout Davidson County.

Implementing an ambitious transportation vision requires more than projects and funding. It requires strong leadership, organizational collaboration, public trust, and a clear understanding of how transportation decisions affect people’s everyday lives.

In this fireside conversation, Tanisha Hall will sit down with NDOT Director Ryan Lynch to discuss his path to transportation leadership, his vision for NDOT, and the priorities that will guide the department as Nashville implements Choose How You Move and responds to continued regional growth.

The conversation will explore how NDOT can strengthen coordination across agencies and sectors, translate long-range plans into visible improvements, and incorporate Transportation Demand Management into the city’s broader transportation strategy. Ryan will also share his leadership approach, the opportunities he sees for NDOT, and how employers, community partners, transportation professionals, and residents can contribute to Nashville’s transportation future.

Attendees will gain a better understanding of NDOT’s direction, the leadership required to move major initiatives forward, and the partnerships needed to deliver safer, more connected, and more practical transportation choices.

Featured Speakers

• Ryan Lynch, Director, Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure
• Moderator: Tanisha Hall, AICP, TDM-CP, CEO & Founding Principal, Fairpointe Planning

Large entertainment venues and major events create economic and cultural opportunities, but they can also place significant demands on transportation systems and surrounding neighborhoods. Successfully moving thousands of people requires more than parking and traffic control. It requires early planning, coordinated operations, clear communications, meaningful transportation choices, and ongoing community engagement.

Bringing together perspectives from Nashville and Atlanta, this panel will examine how Transportation Demand Management can support access to stadiums, entertainment districts, and other high-attendance destinations. Panelists will discuss transit coordination, traffic and curb management, rideshare operations, pedestrian and bicycle access, public safety, guest communications, regional travel patterns, neighborhood impacts, and post-event evaluation.

Attendees will hear lessons from established major-event operations and explore how coordination among venue operators, transit agencies, law enforcement, regional planners, and local governments can improve the visitor experience while reducing congestion and impacts on surrounding communities. The conversation will also consider how these practices can inform transportation planning for new venues and growing destinations throughout Nashville and the region.

Featured Speakers

• Andrea Runner, Director of Transportation & Parking, Tennessee Titans and Nissan Stadium
• Sergeant Chris Bryant, Traffic Division, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department
• Bennett Foster, MPA, TDM-CP, Managing Director, Mobility Services, Atlanta Regional Commission
• The Honorable Terry Vo, Metropolitan Council Member, District 17, Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County
• Meghan Mathson, Transportation Demand Management Administrator and Nashville Connector Program Manager, Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure — Moderator

This closing conversation will bring the day’s ideas back to one of the most consistent transportation decisions people make: how they travel to and from work.

Speakers will discuss how employers can combine transit benefits, vanpooling, carpooling, active transportation, incentives and employee communications into commute programs employees understand and use. The conversation will also address workforce transportation needs, employee onboarding, participation and the measures that show whether travel behavior is changing.

Attendees will leave with a practical understanding of how WeGo Ride, VanStar and Nashville Connector can work together to make sustainable commuting more accessible—and with one action they can take back to their organizations.

Featured Speakers

• Caitlin Okrzesik, Partnerships & Business Development Manager, WeGo Public Transit
• Stephanie Tillman, Business Development Director, The TMA Group and VanStar; Board Chair, Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee
• Meghan Mathson, Transportation Demand Management Administrator and Nashville Connector Program Manager, Nashville Department of Transportation and Multimodal Infrastructure — Moderator