Alumni Voices: Corey Hull
Can you describe your career trajectory?
First, it is nothing like what I thought it would be. My career has been shaped by progressively impactful roles in transportation planning, sustainable development, and organizational leadership. I started my career at the Michiana Area Council of Governments as a regional planner focusing on travel demand modeling and other transportation activities. As the transportation and environmental director at the Southern Georgia Regional Commission, I led a $500+ million transportation funding initiative and worked with communities to start two public transit systems. I then moved on to serve as a vice president at WSP USA, where I focused on strategic client development and coordinated major transportation studies like the Georgia Freight Plan. Now, as eastern regional manager at The Ray, I’m dedicated to implementing innovative sustainable technologies—such as electric vehicles and solar power—within transportation systems, continuing my passion for fostering innovation and building strategic partnerships.
What does your current job entail?
As the eastern regional manager at The Ray, I lead technical assistance projects focused on implementing
sustainable transportation innovations, such as electric vehicles, autonomous
vehicles, and solar power generation within transportation right-of-ways. I work closely with state departments of transportation and local governments, building strong
partnerships, managing cross-functional teams, and providing mentorship to
ensure successful project delivery. My role includes facilitating community
engagement, offering grant writing support, optimizing workflows, and
implementing best practices for efficient project execution. I also help expand
The Ray’s staff capacity by recruiting and training to enhance our research and
technical capabilities.
Please tell us about a favorite project and why it makes you proud.
I think that I am most proud of a project that took two tries to get it right. In 2010 the Georgia Legislature passed enabling legislation that would allow defined regions to develop a transportation improvement project list that voters would be able to approve a 1% sales tax to fund. The first time our region went through this process the voters turned down the tax (even though all of the local governments had a history of passing project specific sales taxes for decades). In 2018, the region had another opportunity to develop a transportation improvement project list that was developed after better identifying the transportation needs in the region. The elected officials asked me to chair a regional roundtable of elected officials that developed a project list to put on the ballot. The sales tax referendum passed with a healthy majority and included sidewalks in small towns, new bridges, dirt roads to be paved, congestion relief in larger communities, and discretionary money for cities and counties to buy new equipment and supplies to maintain their local roads. I was honored to have been chosen by elected officials to lead the project development process for this regional effort that brought much needed investment to some of the poorest counties in the US.
What advice do you have for students who want a career similar to yours?
The best advice I can give is to find a mentor, or at least someone who you can talk to about your career. I did not do this when I was starting out and I think it has held me back in some ways. I think I may have been pushed to take a few more risks early in my career had I reached out to talk to someone about career choices and projects I was working on. Short of finding a mentor, go to lunch with colleagues, get out of the office and have a conversation about your community, your work, and your ideas – you never know where a simple lunch will lead.
Do you have a favorite Ball State or CAP memory to share?
I really enjoyed the field trips students in CAP are encouraged to take. I learned so much from experiencing different cities and learning from real world examples of successes and failures in planning.