Our Team

Min Zhou has 28 years of transportation engineering and planning experience with both private consultant companies and public agencies. She is knowledgeable in roadway design, traffic design, transportation modeling and studies, non-motorized transportation, database management, and statistical analysis. Min has managed several large-scale projects involving multiple stake holder groups and has a reputation of delivering projects on-time and under budget.

Favorite Way to Spend a Weekend: Hiking, yoga, and afternoon tea with friends
Newest Hobby: Planting/Gardening
Favorite Word: Smile
Favorite Project: 3rd & Broadway Cycle Track Study & Design, Long Beach, CA

Juan Gutierrez has more than 20 years of financial and fiscal management experience, and has knowledge of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. He is responsible for the firm’s strategic financial planning, including profit/loss, capital financing, cash flow operations, merger and acquisitions and he ensures compliance with local, state and federal reporting requirements. He also provides leadership and coordination in the administrative, human resources, budgeting, and project management efforts of the company. He also has extensive knowledge of accounting system conversions, and has developed and implemented finance, billing and auditing procedures for KOA.

Favorite Way to Spend a Sunny Day: At the pool
Newest Hobby: Bike Riding
Secret Talent: Latin Style Dance
Spirit Animal: Dog

Carlos Velásquez has experience in transportation planning, transit planning/operations, traffic circulation, bicycle/pedestrian planning an economic development. He has worked on projects addressing transit operations, pedestrian circulation and safety, bikeway planning, traffic studies, and economic revitalization and as been involved in the development of numerous bicycle and pedestrian plans, including the City of South Gate Bicycle Plan and the City of Lancaster Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan. He has experience in working with downtown associations and businesses to develop and implement strategies to improve the physical appearance and livability of the commercial district. He also has experience in a number of planning studies that have addressed transportation planning for existing and planned rail transit stations and transit-oriented districts. Carlos is a certified Transportation Planner with the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), #026845.

Favorite Movie: Batman Begins
What did you want to be when you were six years old? Astronaut
Guilty Pleasure: Pro Wrestling
Claim to Fame Moment: Becoming a dad

Stephen Bise has managed numerous civil and traffic engineering projects for several municipalities throughout Southern California. His project experience consists of preparing final plan, specification, and estimate (PS&E) packages for various improvements to roadways/highways, intersections, drainage, low impact development (LID) implementation, traffic signals, ITS, lighting, signing/striping, and planning for future development. He also has extensive experience in complete streets design and implementation, which include safe multi-modal integration with aesthetic elements such as landscape and street furniture. Stephen’s keys to success include clear, concise communication and diligent quality control.

Favorite Way to Spend a Sunny Day: Playing with my kids at the park
Secret Talent: Juggling
Favorite Treat: Anything chocolate
Favorite Project: Foothill Blvd Master Plan, Claremont, CA

Ming Guan has 14 years of experience with work in street, highway, freeway, and interchange design including extensive experience in urban street intersection design. She has worked on a number of roadway alignment and drainage studies and the design for these projects. She is very well experienced in the use of AutoCAD Civil 3D and Microstation, and has been instrumental in completing some of KOA’s design projects in accordance with the stringent requirements of Caltrans. Ming is the co-author of a technical textbook entitled “Highway Geometric Design using InRoads” along with Professor Xudong Jia of Cal Poly Pomona. Her recent projects include multiple federally-funded safe-route-to-school projects where she was responsible for preparation of technical memorandum and final PS&E packages.

Newest Hobby: Coding with my kids and the Dash & Dot Robot
Secret Talent: Remembering everyone’s birthdays
Guilty Pleasure: Ice Cream
Favorite Thing About California: Sunshine

With over 40 years of experience in applying practical engineering solutions to the transportation planning process, Charlie Schwinger approaches each of his projects holistically, incorporating client goals, public values, and technical excellence. His responsibilities include project management, design, analysis, data collection and surveys, and production of construction plans, specifications and technical reports. His experience in transportation includes: street and highway design; intersection and interchange design; trail and sidewalk design, signal design for isolated, interconnected and coordinated systems; street lighting design; signing and marking design; traffic control plans; accident analysis; traffic impact studies; capacity analysis; parking studies; public involvement; traffic circulation studies; origin-destination studies; transportation modeling; and citywide and corridor transportation studies.

Favorite Thing About California: Mountains, Ocean, Clouds, Sun
Favorite Movie: While You Were Sleeping
What Did You Want To Be When You Were 6 Years Old: Superman
Favorite Project: Escondido Creek Bikeway Missing Link, Escondido, CA

Joel Falter is a Principal with KOA with 39 years of experience in the field of transportation planning and engineering. He has worked on a wide variety of transit corridor studies for bus and rail projects and has worked on many of the rail transit projects in operation today in Southern California or in the planning phase. He has prepared many area-wide transportation plans, traffic engineering studies as well as parking, complete streets, active transportation, neighborhood circulation, goods movement and pedestrian studies for agencies, cities, counties, and private development projects. He has also participated in the preparation of numerous CEQA/NEPA documents Joel has developed and applied a wide range of travel forecasting models for a variety of planning studies. He is experienced in working with the public to help develop consensus on controversial and/or challenging projects. He has also published articles and led webinars on a variety of transportation subjects.

Favorite Way to Spend a Sunny Day: Out and about
Spirit Animal: Elephant
Favorite Word: Please
Newest Hobby: Making coffee

Shirjeel Muhammad is a Licensed Traffic Engineer in the State of California with more than 20 years of Traffic engineering, Traffic Safety, Transportation planning and Infrastructure Project management experience with supervisory responsibilities both in private and public sectors. His portfolio involves traffic impact studies, travel demand modeling, traffic operations, corridor studies, simulations, parking demand, internal/external circulation, site access, accident study, warrant studies, traffic signal synchronization, preparation/review of signing/marking plans, traffic management plans, and traffic signal plans. Most recently his work includes managing contracts from preliminary engineering to notice of completion and ITS which includes establishment of citywide GIS system, city traffic management center (TMC) and developing a statewide ITS infrastructure procurement strategy. He also worked for Ashghal (Public Works Authority) in the State of Qatar as a Senior Traffic Engineer to oversee design and operations of Traffic Signal Systems and ITS.

Spirit Animals: Eagle & Lion
Newest Hobby: Badminton with the kids
Favorite Word: Awesome
Claim to Fame Moment: Winning the City Manager Leadership Award in Costa Mesa, ITE Section President in Inland Empire

Chuck Stephan has 38 years of experience in civil engineering design and project management on projects for many municipalities and private firms. He has diverse project experience in planning, design, management, and construction of transportation, educational, institutional, industrial, aerospace, municipal, residential and commercial projects. He works in multiple capacities as Principal-In-Charge, project manager, project engineer, lead engineer, design engineer, and construction engineer in both the civil and construction management disciplines. Chuck specializes in Project Management, Civil Engineering Design, and Construction Management for municipal Capital Improvement Projects, including pavement design and rehabilitation; ADA improvements; water pipelines; storm drain and sanitary sewers; medians and landscaping; parking lots; site improvements; plan checking; NPDES requirements. He provides staff assistance to municipal engineering departments on temporary or part-time basis as needed; provide staff training in project management, design, and construction management skills, and manages various funding sources including local, state, and federal-aid projects; SR2S; SRTS; STPL; various grant applications and reimbursement requests.

Favorite Thing About California: The amazing geography and biodiversity
What Did You Want to be When You Were 6 Years Old: Seven years old
Favorite Vacation Location: Anywhere worth exploring
Favorite Word: Bumptious

Jimmy Lin has over 45 years of experience in transportation engineering and planning at the national and international levels. He has served as Principal-in-Charge or Project Manager on challenging and large-scale planning and design projects including traffic engineering, regional transportation planning, railroad engineering, ITS planning and design, and highway and freeway design projects with more than $500 million in construction. He has managed more than 15 highway interchange design projects in his career.

Spirit Animal: Mouse (I was born on the year of the Rat)
Karaoke Go-To: I Left My Heart in San Francisco
Favorite Movie: The Godfather
Claim to Fame Moment: Being elected to the city council of Leawood, Kansas

Michael Nilsson, AICP CTP, has over 20 years of experience. He understands how to link land use, environmental, and mobility policies to create high-quality sustainable environments. His project experience includes urban/mobility planning, policy, and outreach; CEQA/NEPA environmental review; and project funding/implementation. Working with regional and municipal government agencies, private developers, non-profit organizations, and advocacy organizations, Michael has guided a diverse array of complex, innovative projects from vision to reality, including cap parks, pedestrian plans, and complete/ green street projects. He has participated in the successful adoption of parking management plans, zoning ordinances, and transportation infrastructure projects – many of which have received awards from American Planning Association, American Public Works Association, Southern California Association of Governments, and Westside Urban Forum.

Spirit Animals: My two pugs, Madison and Monroe
Newest Hobby: Nature photography
Favorite Word: Happy
Claim to Fame Moment: Michael’s claim to fame moment was when he escorted Bette Midler to the main stage of the National Conference for the American Planning Association in 2000.