International Parking Institute Announces Top Parking Professionals of 2014
Josh Kavanagh, CAPP, of University of Washington is
Parking Professional of the Year
Joseph Wlostowski, Binghamton University, is Parking Supervisor of the Year
Wendy Glenn, University of Georgia, Athens, is Parking Staff Member of the Year

(DALLAS, TX) – JUNE 4, 2014 — The International Parking Institute (IPI) has announced the three recipients of its 2014 Professional Recognition Awards.
The awards program was created to honor parking industry professionals who exemplify excellence in the industry and who are changing the perception of parking through their actions and organizational programs. Nominated by their peers and selected by IPI’s Professional Recognition Committee, this year’s winners have distinguished themselves with their leadership, generosity, focus on customer service and advocacy of the parking profession.
“This year’s winners are not only outstanding assets to their organizations but also positive role models for their peers and the entire parking industry,” says IPI Executive Director Shawn Conrad, CAE. “They exemplify exceptional dedication and commitment to the parking profession through their hard work, innovative approaches to challenges, and team spirit.”
2014 James M. Hunnicutt, CAPP, Parking Professional of the Year is Joshua Kavanagh, CAPP, University of Washington, Transportation Services. During more than a decade working in parking and transportation, Kavanagh has taken leadership roles in program management, education, association leadership, industry advocacy, and the larger community.
When Kavanagh assumed management of the University of Washington Transportation Services department, he faced some tall financial hurdles to restore the parking program’s financial stability. But in just four years, he assembled a first-rate team and took the program to a new level. Perhaps most noteworthy, he implemented a new business model and built a $16 million reserve, allowing strategic reinvestment when many were cutting services. He also was a primary contributor to a 2011 resource allocation and funding strategy that saved 600,000 hours of transit service per year in King County, WA, for the last several years.
In an effort to encourage sustainability in transit options, Kavanagh secured $3.2 million in federal funding for campus cycling infrastructure, and implemented a behavior-change strategy that allowed for the elimination of 600 parking spaces without forcing relocations. Under his leadership, Transportation Services achieved LEED Platinum certification for a new transportation services center, for which it won multiple awards. Kavanagh also was selected to participate in the iSustain research mission to learn about urban sustainability in Denmark and Sweden.
Kavanagh has made notable contributions to IPI and the parking industry as well. He was instrumental in implementing changes to IPI’s education programs, and he served as the primary author of IPI’s Professional Development Framework. He also led IPI’s efforts to create a strategic alliance with the Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT), and he served as president of the Pacific and Inter-Mountain Parking and Transportation Association. Currently president of ACT, Kavanagh continues to work to promote a broader vision of the industry and the integration of parking and transportation into a broader set of interrelated access management strategies.
2014 Parking Supervisor of the Year is Joseph Wlostowski, operations director at Binghamton University Parking Services. Wlostowski has dedicated himself to the parking industry for more than 22 years. He is passionate, resourceful, knowledgeable, ambitious, and generous. As a result, he is known on the Binghamton University campus as a true professional and a credit to the parking industry. His staff know him as a top-rate supervisor. Wlostowski arrives at work every morning with a smile and a can-do attitude, offering his talents and skills to solve whatever challenges arise. Knowing other departments are stretched thin during busy times, he volunteers to help, either directly or by contacting the right people who can do the job. His positive attitude is contagious.
Not afraid of hard work, Wlostowski works well under pressure. When President Barack Obama visited campus in 2013, Wlostowski grabbed a post-hole digger and joined his staff, pounding 800 posts into the ground to create barriers that would prevent pedestrians from entering the motorcade route. He is also known as the guy who can fix anything. When a pay station recently jammed, he calmly took it to his office, disassembled it, and saved $1,400 fixing it himself. Best of all, the meters were only out of service for a day. He is known for meeting those sorts of challenges in a professional manner, offering suggestions and feedback that help both his and other departments. Wlostowski’s generosity and can-do attitude also make him a key contributor to the neighborhood. He recently spent an entire weekend painting the exterior of an elderly neighbor’s home. He also organized a team of staff and friends to repair the Broome County Humane Society’s building. A side benefit of this project was positive media coverage for the parking department. Every February, he orchestrates a Have a Heart campaign to collect food and supplies for the Humane Society as well.
2014 Parking Staff Member of the Year is Wendy Glenn, University of Georgia Parking Services. Glenn does a seemingly ordinary job extraordinarily well. As a parking monitor in the University of Georgia South Deck, she has had an exceptionally positive effect on customer service. Her standards of conduct and delightful interactions with visitors have also enhanced the professional reputation of her department and the industry. Glenn has made significant contributions to her department’s winning 43 awards in recent years, including IPI’s Parking Organization of the Year in 2011. She was named the Parking Association of Georgia’s 2014 Staff Member of the Year as well.
Known for displaying an exceptional attitude in her interactions with customers, Glenn has a reputation for always smiling and presenting herself in a professional manner with enthusiasm and a positive outlook. Parking is often the first and last impression a visitor has of the university, and Glenn leaves a positive impression on thousands of visitors, some of whom have commented that she’s friendly, charming, attentive, and offers terrific customer service, going above and beyond to ensure that everyone who visits the deck leaves with a smile. Many visitors to the Georgia Center are elderly, and Glenn goes out of her way to assist them, helping carry items to their cars. She is a key member of the organization’s integrated processes improvement team, which seeks to make department-wide improvements. She also serves as co-leader of the Integrated Program teams, a competency aligned organization that is essential to the university’s Parking Services department. Additionally, she is involved in Operation Safe-Drive, which is an award-winning program that provides free vehicle inspections for faculty, staff, and students. Great customer service can only happen when employees demonstrate positive attitudes, and Glenn exemplifies this commitment. She is a consummate professional, leader, role model for her peers, and bright spot for thousands of university visitors.
IPI’s Parking Professional Recognition Awards were announced at its 2014 Conference & Expo in Dallas, Texas, June 1-4.
For more information about IPI, the largest association representing parking professionals and the parking industry, visit parking.org.
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Media contact:
Helen Sullivan
703.606.7622
sullivan@parking.org