Victoria Wornom

Some people find their calling, others create it. For public involvement planner Victoria Wornom, it’s a little of both. Victoria didn’t know a role like hers existed when she embarked on her post-college job hunt. But as it turned out, the fusion of environmental science, planning, storytelling and community clicked for her. Today, Victoria’s building her career around making transportation planning feel more human: something that everyday people can see, understand and help shape. 

Victoria brings a valuable blend of both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of planning projects and has utilized her public engagement expertise for clients from South Carolina to Connecticut. She currently serves as the national leader for CDM Smith’s proprietary online virtual engagement platform, Gather, where she integrates innovative technology with traditional outreach tactics to ensure everyone is considered in transportation planning and design.

To Victoria, success is deeper than participation results. “Riders are more than just a survey response, and I love understanding their perspectives and bringing that feedback to the planning world. Public engagement elevates all voices so they’re heard. That’s what makes this meaningful to me,” she says.

“Success isn’t just about reaching people. It’s about understanding their perspectives and applying them to the decision-making process.”