Transportation
From her experience working with project engineers, urban planners, and architects at Boston’s Big Dig to her contract work with the Massachusetts Alliance for Small Contractors and DMJM Harris, Ruthann brings to her clients a comprehensive understanding of the A/E/C industry, including the complex public policy and environmental processes involved in building a transportation or construction project.
As a public relations specialist for the Big Dig from 1993-’96, 
Ruthann developed content for the project’s external and internal newsletters, covering such topics as the latest archeological digs, construction technology, project updates, and environmental measures being taken to minimize impacts to the city’s historic neighborhoods.
Ruthann was part of the Public Information team that set up weekly news conferences, held press events, responded to media inquiries, and worked with the press to assist reporters and producers in setting up photo shoots, filming documentaries, and covering news and feature stories.
Ruthann also worked in the Public Outreach/Mitigation Department, supporting the project’s neighborhood liaisons in establishing effective communications among the neighborhoods and businesses affected by construction. In this capacity, Ruthann participated in community meetings throughout the city to provide residents and businesses with project information, as well as wrote newsletters, fact sheets, and a variety of collateral to keep 
residents and merchants updated on project activities.
An important role of the Big Dig was expanding opportunity to women- and minority-owned firms and providing resources to help them grow their businesses and bid for contract work. Ruthann was responsible for implementing a project newsletter specifically geared toward women- and minority-owned businesses to help keep them informed of the workshops and resources offered by the project. After leaving the Big Dig, she continued her outreach and diversity writing on behalf of minority contractors and freelanced for the Massachusetts Alliance for Small Contractors www.massalliance.com. Her responsibilities included writing newsletters distributed to minority contractors and vendors, the alliance’s annual reports, and the agency’s internal reports to the MBTA and other public agencies.
As an independent, Ruthann has also worked for DMJM Harris www.dmjmharris.com, an international construction firm specializing in transit/rail, highway and bridge, marine, aviation and energy infrastructure.
For more information contact Ruthann.
“Ruthann is able to sit down and talk with engineers, architects, and urban planners and gain a quick understanding of a complex engineering or transportation project as well as its related community and environmental issues. She can turn the copy around and present it concisely and effectively for the targeted audience – whether it’s for the lay person or a technical person.”
– Jim Gast, director, architecture and urban design for the Metropolitan Transit Authority in Houston, former senior project manager at DMJM+Harris and former senior architect with the Big Dig