Practitioner Circle
An invitation-only circle of trusted road-pricing experts lending their expertise and support.
Practitioner Circle members are IRPP's intellectual sounding boards. Their role is consultative. They serve in an individual capacity and contribute by:
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Offering candid views on questions IRPP puts to them.
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Testing IRPPs approaches against industry realities and practices.
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Lending perspective that keeps IRPP's work grounded.
IRPP brings real problems to Circle members: how something should be framed, whether an assumption holds, where an approach is likely to run into issues in practice, and asks for candid views. There is no meeting schedule and no standing obligation. The ask comes when the question is live and the answer could change something.
Role of a Circle Member
How Input is Used
Input is taken seriously because it is sought for good reason. IRPP reports back to Circle members what came of their input, including if a different course was taken and why. The Circle does not vote, but Circle members are part of the intellectual foundation of IRPP and consulted prior to major decisions rather than informed after.
The Practitioner Circle contributes perspective. Circle members contribute their individual expertise and their commitment to advancing professional standards in road pricing. SMETAC reviews and informs the IRPP Body of Knowledge, training, and credentialing programs, and confers the honorary "Fellow" designation on retiring industry veterans. Final approval of the IRPP-Body of Knowledge rests with IRPP.
Distinction from SMETAC
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Jon Ramirez - Infrastructure Technology Strategist
Meet the Circle
Jon Ramirez is a solutions architect whose work sits at the intersection of technology strategy, infrastructure program delivery, and public-sector procurement. He translates emerging technical capabilities into programs that agencies, consultancies, and technology providers can procure, deploy, and operate. His career has spanned three decades and three sides of the infrastructure ecosystem: technology vendor, consultant advising public agencies, and staff within public agencies themselves.
That range gives him a working understanding of how a new capability moves from concept to implementation in environments where procurement rules, funding cycles, and operational constraints shape outcomes as much as technical merit does. Much of his current work involves AI-enabled systems — automated image recognition, advanced analytics, and decision-support platforms — applied to operational accuracy, revenue assurance, and infrastructure performance.
His areas of expertise include intelligent transportation systems, tolling and road usage charging, infrastructure technology strategy, transportation data and analytics, public-sector procurement and RFP strategy, and infrastructure program delivery. He is particularly interested in work where technology, policy, and operational delivery intersect.
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Nina Elter, Founder & CEO, NEWROAD Consulting
Nina founded NEWROAD Consulting in 2015 with the purpose of accelerating the move to a sustainable transportation system and a NetPositive future. With 25+ years of experience in transportation and technology, she specialises in infrastructure funding, road pricing, safety, and sustainable development. She is internationally recognised as an expert in road user charging; not just the policy, but the practical reality of designing, piloting, and implementing these systems.
That experience spans North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, working with government agencies, coalitions, and the private sector. Known for a practical, systems-thinking approach, Nina helps organisations translate diverse perspectives into strategies that actually work. She brings an international lens, a bias for collaboration, and a deep belief that the transition to sustainable transport is both urgent and achievable.
She is a regular speaker at global events, providing thought leadership on transport funding, decarbonization, safety, and emerging technologies. Now based in Germany with her husband and two daughters, Nina continues to champion collaboration across sectors and borders to advance smarter, more resilient transport systems for everyone.
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Shannon Fuentes Swank, President, Cogitative Consulting
Shannon is a tolling payments innovator, executive and entrepreneur whose work sits at the intersection of toll systems, payments, and customer access. In more than 25 years in the industry she has worked as an integrator, a founder, and an executive. She began at Caseta Technologies in 1999, where she helped deliver the all-electronic toll system for the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority.
In 2012 she co-founded BancPass, later renamed PlusPass. The company launched the first working mobile tolling app and focused on the customers agencies find hardest to reach: occasional travelers, the unbanked, and drivers who won't open a traditional transponder account. She is a named inventor on the company's mobile toll payment patents. She later served as Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Electronic Transaction Consultants (ETC, now Quarterhill).
Her areas of expertise include toll payment and account solutions, Mobility-as-a-Service, road usage charging, and growth strategy. She has long contributed to IBTTA, where she co-chaired the Road User Charging work group and served on the Women in Tolling Council. Based in Austin, Texas, she is particularly interested in making road pricing simpler and more accessible for every traveler.
Road pricing is at an inflection point. The practitioners who built this industry are retiring and their knowledge has never been formally captured. As for the next generation, career growth is unstructured and bespoke. IRPP is thankful for Practitioner Circle members, both for their expert contributions and intellectual support to IRPP as it endeavors to advance the road pricing profession.