May 28, 2025 • 10 mins
Grace Gallucci is the Executive Director for the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for greater Cleveland, responsible for transportation and environmental planning, as well as resource allocation in the five county region. She has held this post since 2012.
Ms. Gallucci has more than 30 years of finance and planning experience in the field of transportation. Her prior posts include working for the Chicago Regional Transportation Authority where she held the titles of Deputy Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, responsible for the Finance and Performance Management functions, as well as those of the department of Research, Analysis and Policy Development. She also held the positions of Director, Office of Management & Budget and Director of Finance for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. She started her career in transportation as an analyst for the Office of Transportation, Broward County, Florida, working on both highways and mass transit issues.
Ms. Gallucci has been an adjunct professor at Cleveland State University, Kent State University, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northwestern University, teaching courses in public finance, economics, public policy and transportation management. Ms. Gallucci holds a Master of Science in Urban Studies from Cleveland State University, and both a Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Dayton.
Ms. Gallucci has been the chair of the Northeast Ohio Sustainability Communities Consortium (Vibrant NEO2040) since 2013, receiving the Daniel Burnham Award for best comprehensive plan from the American Planning Association, its highest honor, in 2015.
She is active in various professional organizations including the National Association of Regional Councils. She has served on research panels for the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science and has been appointed by former US Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to serve on its Transportation Review Advisory Committee for Safety. She has received many honors including being named one of Crain’s Business “40 under 40”, and receiving the distinguished alumni award from Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs.
Ms. Gallucci has more than 30 years of finance and planning experience in the field of transportation. Her prior posts include working for the Chicago Regional Transportation Authority where she held the titles of Deputy Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer, responsible for the Finance and Performance Management functions, as well as those of the department of Research, Analysis and Policy Development. She also held the positions of Director, Office of Management & Budget and Director of Finance for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. She started her career in transportation as an analyst for the Office of Transportation, Broward County, Florida, working on both highways and mass transit issues.
Ms. Gallucci has been an adjunct professor at Cleveland State University, Kent State University, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northwestern University, teaching courses in public finance, economics, public policy and transportation management. Ms. Gallucci holds a Master of Science in Urban Studies from Cleveland State University, and both a Master of Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Dayton.
Ms. Gallucci has been the chair of the Northeast Ohio Sustainability Communities Consortium (Vibrant NEO2040) since 2013, receiving the Daniel Burnham Award for best comprehensive plan from the American Planning Association, its highest honor, in 2015.
She is active in various professional organizations including the National Association of Regional Councils. She has served on research panels for the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Science and has been appointed by former US Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to serve on its Transportation Review Advisory Committee for Safety. She has received many honors including being named one of Crain’s Business “40 under 40”, and receiving the distinguished alumni award from Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is iHeartRadio's CEOs. You should know. I'm Keith Hodgkis.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Today we're spending time with Grace Galucci, the CEO of
NOAKA And of course the first question everybody has to
ask is Grace, Hello, and what is NOAKA good?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Well, that's saying hello Hello. I was going to say
good morning, but I guess hello is probably better. Well.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yeah, in podcasting, you never know when.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
We never know when people are actually listening, So we'll
start with hello Hello. NOAKA is the Northeast Ohio Area
Wide Coordinating Agency. I know that's a mouthful. We are
the Metropolitan Planning Organization for Greater Cleveland. We're responsible for
many activities around regional planning and regional funding in terms
(00:45):
of infrastructure projects.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Really interesting because as a native Clevelander and then also
someone who got to spend time in a part of
the country in Charlotte where there was a much more
regional focus. One of the things that I think frustrate
rights people oftentimes is there are different entities and different agendas,
and different municipalities and different political actions that have maybe
(01:10):
are competing with one another, and it sounds like you
have the I would say tough job of coordinating and
wrangling these folks together in order to benefit the greater community.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Is that fair to say?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
That's fair to say, you captured that perfectly. One of
the main tenants of our vision statement is regional cohesion.
So we are absolutely and fundamentally looking at bringing the
region together as one.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
What does that typically entail as far as the coordination
part of your name right as far as like, is
it working with different municipalities or is it working with
you know, regional, county wide things or state governments. Tell
me a little bit about what you know, a typical
piece of your daily work might be.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
So our coordinating efforts are all of the above. We
are a creature of the federal government. We were created
by active Congress, so we work very closely with our
federal partners at the US DOT and the USCPA, that's
US Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agencies. Those are
the two main organizations that we work with at the
(02:25):
federal level. We of course also coordinate with our congressional delegation,
so that's really important. Our connection to Washington. At the
state level, we coordinate very closely with odat the Ohio
Department of Transportation, and the Ohio EPA Environmental Protection Agency,
and those are at the federal and state levels. We're
(02:47):
all working together to coordinate the efforts of the region.
Now the regional parts the tougher part. So regionally, we
have forty eight board members and those forty eight board
members are elected or appointed officials that represent all of
the constituents throughout the five county area. So I didn't
mention we cover five counties. That's what our region looks like.
(03:10):
So we have Cuyahoga, Gioga, Lake, Lorraine, and Madana Counties.
Within that, we have nearly one hundred and seventy cities, villages,
and townships. So that's a lot of folks that we
have to coordinate with, and we work really hard to
be not just the coordinator, but the facilitator of regional
(03:33):
discussions and the facilitator of bringing funds to the region
to enhance the equality of life into support economic development.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
So as someone who comes from a lived in Cleveland
but also comes from like again a Charlotte, where there's
one county for instead of fifty municipalities in say Kyahoga County,
I can appreciate the efficiencies that delivered for that town
why do we still have this antiquated model?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
How do we get out of this?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I mean, I'm showing my opinion here, but I do
believe in many cases that this is an antiquated model
where there's fifty people making decisions for a county of
a million people. That doesn't sound efficient in modern America.
But how do we what's the best way to navigate that?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I guess, well, you know, we have to look at
the positives. The positives are this is a home real state,
so we look at it as local control is best right.
And so when you think of local control, you're really
supporting decision making at the most basic level, closest to
(04:41):
the constituents. And so I think that's what we're supporting.
And it is not easy to coordinate all the elected officials,
but it does happen.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Well, I guess at the same time, that's a really
good way to look at it. There's positives and negatives
to everything, and you are that overseer to try and
help make it a more reagion level of cooperation. Can
you talk a little bit about you mentioned odo. There's
a lot of road projects happening right now. We're recording
this at the Memorial Day weekend, there's roads closed and
(05:11):
orange barrels everywhere. Is transportation a big piece of your
focus or is it more brown fields or is it
more attracting regional business. Talk to me about like a
little bit about some of the focus areas you have.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
First of all, orange barrels are good.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Oh yeah, yeah, that means that we.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Are fixing our infrastructure and we're bringing it up to
a state of good repair.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
So that's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
When it comes to the question of what do we
really do and how does transportation fit into our role?
Transportation is the biggest part of our job. I'd say
more than eighty percent of what we do is transportation
interesting and the other twenty percent focuses on water quality,
(05:54):
air quality, brown fields. And we've just started our foray
into economic development. So we just recently developed a comprehensive
economic development strategy for the five county region. That's also
a major step forward in bringing the officials together to
(06:15):
coordinate decision making.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Well, when you think about it, you know, as a
resident of Bay Village, what's good for Lake County can
also be good for the overarching region. Right, even though
I don't live in Lake County. I think we can
appreciate when good things are happening there right.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Absolutely, And that's exactly what regional thinking is about, thinking
of the whole region and recognizing that strength in one
part of the region is strength in the entire region.
Weakness in one part of the region is weakness in
the entire region. And we certainly have to look at
the home base of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County in terms
of the center and recognize what's good for the core
(06:53):
is also good for the outer counties. And similarly, what
is good for the outer counties is good for the core.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
It sounds like a really important mission.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
We're talking with Grace Galucci, CEO of NOWAKA, the Northeast
Ohio Area Coordinating Agency that brings communities municipalities together to
try and help benefit the entire region. The rising Tide
Lift All Boats theory. Grace, you mentioned you know some
of that work can be challenging, and I can only
(07:21):
imagine herding cats as it might be called. But where
do you, as someone in your background, how do you
find the strength in the area. The one of the
things we talk about CEOs you should know is the
stress relief. How do you decompress, how do you center
and make sure that you're at your best for the
work you have to do.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Now that's the hardest question of all, isn't it right? Right?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
You know, I can talk all day about my work,
but talking about decompressing and what else do I do? Yeah,
that becomes a little bit of a challenge for me.
You know, I like to travel, I like to do
things that keep my mind occupied of art. I love fashion,
(08:03):
so there's a lot of things that I do around
my family and integrating those things. So just really spending
time with family and friends and doing those things that.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I love, isn't it interesting?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I talk with a lot of CEOs and they're so
easy for them to talk about the job they do
and the passion they have for that work. But then
when it comes to what else they do outside, You're like, well,
wait a minute, Yes, I do have a life outside
of what we do here. So grace in our remaining time.
I bet you some of our listeners will be interested
to know some of the larger upcoming projects that you've
helped coordinate that's going to better the region. Can you
(08:37):
share any of those with us that people might be
seeing down the road.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, certainly. I did want to add one more thing
though about that. It's easy to talk about the job
and not as easy to talk about what we do
outside of the job sometimes, and I think that's because,
particularly with my agency and the kind of agency that
we are, the mission of the agency is really a
part of our DNA. It is about moving the communities
(09:03):
forward within our region and moving the region forward. And
that isn't something that you put away at the end
of the day. You live with that continuously and you
integrate that into your life as well.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
We need more people like you there right in that space,
So talk about what is upcoming.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
So one of the neatest projects that we have just
completed was a feasibility study for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
So this is connecting the scenic railroad that terminates currently
in Independence and connecting it all the way to downtown Cleveland. Cool.
(09:39):
That would allow people to connect to the National Park
from downtown Cleveland on public transportation. That's really important, especially
considering the level of folks that we have in the
region that do not own automobiles or don't want to
necessarily travel in automobiles, so it's great to give them
choices and options and opportunities that they may not otherwise have.
(10:01):
So that's one of our projects we just completed in
terms of the feasibility study. Now we'll move on to
the next levels of trying to implement too well.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
The scenic Railroad in the valley of the National Park
is just one of the many gems of outdoor living
that we have here, and probably not enough people get
the opportunity to take advantage of that. The lake, so
many outdoor recreational activities that we have here and we
appreciate NOWAKA coordinating all of that in order to help
improve the region. Grace Galucci, thanks for being with us today.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I appreciate it, and this has been iHeartRadio CEOs.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You should know.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Today's show is produced by Bob Kates and I'm Keith Hotchkiss.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
We'll see you next time.
This is iHeartRadio's CEOs. You should know. I'm Keith Hodgkis.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Today we're spending time with Grace Galucci, the CEO of
NOAKA And of course the first question everybody has to
ask is Grace, Hello, and what is NOAKA good?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Well, that's saying hello Hello. I was going to say
good morning, but I guess hello is probably better. Well.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yeah, in podcasting, you never know when.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
We never know when people are actually listening, So we'll
start with hello Hello. NOAKA is the Northeast Ohio Area
Wide Coordinating Agency. I know that's a mouthful. We are
the Metropolitan Planning Organization for Greater Cleveland. We're responsible for
many activities around regional planning and regional funding in terms
(00:45):
of infrastructure projects.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Really interesting because as a native Clevelander and then also
someone who got to spend time in a part of
the country in Charlotte where there was a much more
regional focus. One of the things that I think frustrate
rights people oftentimes is there are different entities and different agendas,
and different municipalities and different political actions that have maybe
(01:10):
are competing with one another, and it sounds like you
have the I would say tough job of coordinating and
wrangling these folks together in order to benefit the greater community.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Is that fair to say?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
That's fair to say, you captured that perfectly. One of
the main tenants of our vision statement is regional cohesion.
So we are absolutely and fundamentally looking at bringing the
region together as one.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
What does that typically entail as far as the coordination
part of your name right as far as like, is
it working with different municipalities or is it working with
you know, regional, county wide things or state governments. Tell
me a little bit about what you know, a typical
piece of your daily work might be.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
So our coordinating efforts are all of the above. We
are a creature of the federal government. We were created
by active Congress, so we work very closely with our
federal partners at the US DOT and the USCPA, that's
US Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agencies. Those are
the two main organizations that we work with at the
(02:25):
federal level. We of course also coordinate with our congressional delegation,
so that's really important. Our connection to Washington. At the
state level, we coordinate very closely with odat the Ohio
Department of Transportation, and the Ohio EPA Environmental Protection Agency,
and those are at the federal and state levels. We're
(02:47):
all working together to coordinate the efforts of the region.
Now the regional parts the tougher part. So regionally, we
have forty eight board members and those forty eight board
members are elected or appointed officials that represent all of
the constituents throughout the five county area. So I didn't
mention we cover five counties. That's what our region looks like.
(03:10):
So we have Cuyahoga, Gioga, Lake, Lorraine, and Madana Counties.
Within that, we have nearly one hundred and seventy cities, villages,
and townships. So that's a lot of folks that we
have to coordinate with, and we work really hard to
be not just the coordinator, but the facilitator of regional
(03:33):
discussions and the facilitator of bringing funds to the region
to enhance the equality of life into support economic development.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
So as someone who comes from a lived in Cleveland
but also comes from like again a Charlotte, where there's
one county for instead of fifty municipalities in say Kyahoga County,
I can appreciate the efficiencies that delivered for that town
why do we still have this antiquated model?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
How do we get out of this?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I mean, I'm showing my opinion here, but I do
believe in many cases that this is an antiquated model
where there's fifty people making decisions for a county of
a million people. That doesn't sound efficient in modern America.
But how do we what's the best way to navigate that?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I guess, well, you know, we have to look at
the positives. The positives are this is a home real state,
so we look at it as local control is best right.
And so when you think of local control, you're really
supporting decision making at the most basic level, closest to
(04:41):
the constituents. And so I think that's what we're supporting.
And it is not easy to coordinate all the elected officials,
but it does happen.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Well, I guess at the same time, that's a really
good way to look at it. There's positives and negatives
to everything, and you are that overseer to try and
help make it a more reagion level of cooperation. Can
you talk a little bit about you mentioned odo. There's
a lot of road projects happening right now. We're recording
this at the Memorial Day weekend, there's roads closed and
(05:11):
orange barrels everywhere. Is transportation a big piece of your
focus or is it more brown fields or is it
more attracting regional business. Talk to me about like a
little bit about some of the focus areas you have.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
First of all, orange barrels are good.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Oh yeah, yeah, that means that we.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Are fixing our infrastructure and we're bringing it up to
a state of good repair.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
So that's a good thing.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
When it comes to the question of what do we
really do and how does transportation fit into our role?
Transportation is the biggest part of our job. I'd say
more than eighty percent of what we do is transportation
interesting and the other twenty percent focuses on water quality,
(05:54):
air quality, brown fields. And we've just started our foray
into economic development. So we just recently developed a comprehensive
economic development strategy for the five county region. That's also
a major step forward in bringing the officials together to
(06:15):
coordinate decision making.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Well, when you think about it, you know, as a
resident of Bay Village, what's good for Lake County can
also be good for the overarching region. Right, even though
I don't live in Lake County. I think we can
appreciate when good things are happening there right.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Absolutely, And that's exactly what regional thinking is about, thinking
of the whole region and recognizing that strength in one
part of the region is strength in the entire region.
Weakness in one part of the region is weakness in
the entire region. And we certainly have to look at
the home base of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County in terms
of the center and recognize what's good for the core
(06:53):
is also good for the outer counties. And similarly, what
is good for the outer counties is good for the core.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
It sounds like a really important mission.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
We're talking with Grace Galucci, CEO of NOWAKA, the Northeast
Ohio Area Coordinating Agency that brings communities municipalities together to
try and help benefit the entire region. The rising Tide
Lift All Boats theory. Grace, you mentioned you know some
of that work can be challenging, and I can only
(07:21):
imagine herding cats as it might be called. But where
do you, as someone in your background, how do you
find the strength in the area. The one of the
things we talk about CEOs you should know is the
stress relief. How do you decompress, how do you center
and make sure that you're at your best for the
work you have to do.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Now that's the hardest question of all, isn't it right? Right?
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:43):
You know, I can talk all day about my work,
but talking about decompressing and what else do I do? Yeah,
that becomes a little bit of a challenge for me.
You know, I like to travel, I like to do
things that keep my mind occupied of art. I love fashion,
(08:03):
so there's a lot of things that I do around
my family and integrating those things. So just really spending
time with family and friends and doing those things that.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I love, isn't it interesting?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
I talk with a lot of CEOs and they're so
easy for them to talk about the job they do
and the passion they have for that work. But then
when it comes to what else they do outside, You're like, well,
wait a minute, Yes, I do have a life outside
of what we do here. So grace in our remaining time.
I bet you some of our listeners will be interested
to know some of the larger upcoming projects that you've
helped coordinate that's going to better the region. Can you
(08:37):
share any of those with us that people might be
seeing down the road.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, certainly. I did want to add one more thing
though about that. It's easy to talk about the job
and not as easy to talk about what we do
outside of the job sometimes, and I think that's because,
particularly with my agency and the kind of agency that
we are, the mission of the agency is really a
part of our DNA. It is about moving the communities
(09:03):
forward within our region and moving the region forward. And
that isn't something that you put away at the end
of the day. You live with that continuously and you
integrate that into your life as well.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
We need more people like you there right in that space,
So talk about what is upcoming.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
So one of the neatest projects that we have just
completed was a feasibility study for the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
So this is connecting the scenic railroad that terminates currently
in Independence and connecting it all the way to downtown Cleveland. Cool.
(09:39):
That would allow people to connect to the National Park
from downtown Cleveland on public transportation. That's really important, especially
considering the level of folks that we have in the
region that do not own automobiles or don't want to
necessarily travel in automobiles, so it's great to give them
choices and options and opportunities that they may not otherwise have.
(10:01):
So that's one of our projects we just completed in
terms of the feasibility study. Now we'll move on to
the next levels of trying to implement too well.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
The scenic Railroad in the valley of the National Park
is just one of the many gems of outdoor living
that we have here, and probably not enough people get
the opportunity to take advantage of that. The lake, so
many outdoor recreational activities that we have here and we
appreciate NOWAKA coordinating all of that in order to help
improve the region. Grace Galucci, thanks for being with us today.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Thank you very much for having me.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I appreciate it, and this has been iHeartRadio CEOs.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You should know.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Today's show is produced by Bob Kates and I'm Keith Hotchkiss.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
We'll see you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.