CPCS appoints Erika Witzke as US director for freight planning and policy

CPCS, an Ottawa, Canada-headquartered management consultancy focusing on the transportation sector, has promoted Erika Witzke to director for freight planning and policy in the US market.

Based in Chicago, Witzke is a project manager and professional engineer with 25+ years of experience. In her new role as national director, she will focus on developing tailored plans for state and regional multimodal freight, rail, and truck parking.

Witzke joined CPCS in 2015 as a principal consultant and has been a part of the core team that has grown the US division. She most recently served as associate vice president for the US division.

During her career, Witzke has director or advised on more than 70 state freight, state rail, state truck parking, and regional goods movement plans and studies. Before joining CPCS, she was a freight planning and policy consultant at Cambridge Systematics and management & operations program manager at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission.

Witzke has a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Marquette University.

“Erika brings the trifecta to her new role: pioneering expertise in the freight planning discipline, energetic leadership, and a results-oriented approach to project delivery—all of which build tremendous client trust,” said Donald Ludlow, CPCS partner and vice president, US.

Witzke added, “This new role gives me the opportunity to blend my decades of experience in the public and private sectors to provide the best insights to our clients.”

CPCS traces its roots to the internal management consulting unit of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, which was originally created in 1970. CPCS was formed as the current private company through the 1996 merger of Hickling Transcom and CPCS International.

The consultancy advises governments, NGOs, investors, and infrastructure owners and operators on transportation challenges in strategic and business planning, multimodal freight, passenger rail, ports and waterways, intermodal terminals, trade lanes, borders, and urban mobility, among other areas.

CPCS has over 200 employees, according to LinkedIn, and offices in in North America, Barbados, Africa, the UK, and India.