Amid fond memories of Peter Kissinger and commemorating the 5th year of this special award, the 2025 iRAP Peter Kissinger Award recipients were announced last week, in the virtual presence of Peter’s wife Willie and long-time friend Dave Anderson.

In recognition of his great contribution to iRAP and global road safety, the Peter Kissinger Memorial Award has been presented each year since 2020 to the iRAP Staff Member/s who most emulate the iRAP values and spirit that Peter demonstrated in practice each day.

In honour of her late husband’s memory, Willie chose the final winners – and for the first time we had a 2-way tie for runners up! In selecting winners, Willie used the iRAP values and looked for characteristics that made her think of Peter.

The 2024 winners are:

1st RUNNER UP: Anne Alexander, Full Stack Developer, Innovation and Development Team

In reflecting on her selection of Anne as the 1st Runner-up, Willie said:

“This is in recognition of Anne’s passion for iRAP values. It shows in her meticulous work on the software development team to assess and improve road safety standards.

“She actively seeks feedback and input from diverse perspectives, recognizing that collaboration is a great way to solve challenges. She’s very efficient and proactive and inspires everyone to strive for success. Anne understands the importance of capability and ownership of her work, ensuring that tasks are completed.

“As a forward-thinking member of the iRAP team, she constantly seeks out new ideas and technologies with her willingness to challenge the status quo. Congratulations, Anne.”

2nd RUNNER UP: Shanna Lucchesi, Project Coordinator, Innovation and Development Team

In reflecting on her selection of Shanna as the 2nd Runner-up, Willie said:

“Shanna has truly exceeded every expectation in her role coordinating, with an amazing level of creativity and intuition.

She does not shy from any challenge, new apps, mapping, smoothed CycleRAP results, building model test beds, or reviewing investment plans – her ingenuity and initiative are fantastic end-to-end. Shanna’s technical skills are a significant asset to the Innovation Development team. Congratulations, Shanna.”

WINNER: Louise Lupton, Programme Support Officer, Global Programme Team

In reflecting on her selection of Louise as the Winner, Willie said:

“Lou is known as ‘Captain Courageous’ by Rob.

“She has tackled enormously challenging projects like organizing data from multiple disconnected systems and connecting all of our knowledge and insights in one platform.

“She has integrated systems, so now the data, which is so essential, is now collated and protected, meaningfully linked, GDPR compliant and meets donor requirements. It is also showcased in a meaningful way using Power BI.  Key information is shared globally via the Partner Portal, providing iRAP road safety knowledge free to the world.

“This would not have happened without Lou’s diligence, excellent skills, quick intelligence, and broad capabilities.  Congratulations Lou.”

Willie has said previously of this special award, “Peter was just so proud of iRAP and so delighted that he was part of the whole organization. He was so impressed and it was important to him. The people in the organization are so passionate, so supportive and so encouraging. This award … I know he knows about it, he’s listening. He’s proud of it.”

During the online awards session with the iRAP team, Willie also highlighted the recent announcement of iRAP Partners’ prevention of 700,000 deaths and serious injuries in 74 countries since 2016, according to new research by  Johns Hopkins University published in the respected journal PLOS One.

“It just shows you, when people get a good idea and put it to work, look what it can do. You should all be so proud of yourselves”, Willie congratulated the team.

iRAP staff nominations
There were 7 nominations shortlisted for the 2024 award including:

• Anne Alexander, Full Stack Developer – Passionate and dedicated, encouraging spirit, supportive and inspiring, super-efficient and exceeds our ideals.
• Franco Azzato, Training and Accreditation Coordinator – Passionate and efficient, helpful and reliable, patient and understanding, delivers new ideas and committed to quality.
• Helen Noble, Finance Team Lead – Direct and honest, team player and professional, sympathetic and caring, creative and ingenious, and provides a high-class service.
• Louise Lupton, Programme Support Officer – Honest, kind and caring, trail-blazer with our systems, diligent and thorough, steps up to the challenge and innovative.
• Marko Ševrović, Senior Road Safety Engineer, European Institute of Road Assessments (EIRA) – Passionate and motivated, goes the extra mile, looks for and finds better ways, supportive to colleagues.
• Shona Holroyd, Chief Financial Officer – Passionate and focused, helps us all work ‘smarter’ and ‘better’, motivates and supports colleagues, dependable with trust and integrity, makes ‘the iRAP world free of high-risk projects’.
• Shanna Lucchesi, Project Coordinator – Innovative and gets things done, exceeds every expectation, amazing levels of creativity, adaptive and resilient, professional and a great communicator.

Put some faces to names here

About Peter
Peter was a road safety champion, colleague, and friend to iRAP. He was an iRAP Board Director from 2005 to 2019, President and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (2002 to 2016) and part of the Civil Engineering Research Foundation from 1992 to 2001.

Some comments made by Peter’s colleagues that matched his characteristics included:

• There are countless people who owe their lives to Peter’s passion for safety.
• His achievements only exceeded by his character and integrity.
• An amazing boss and mentor….led by example…and offered wise counsel to everyone.
• A leader, innovator and hero for the cause of road safety.
• He was such a positive person, always looking for the good in …a logically measured way.

We are delighted to share this award in Peter’s name and remember him alongside Willie, a cherished member of our iRAP family.

See more on iRAP’s values here

Information on previous award winners can be found here:

• 2023 winners and nominees
• 2022 winners and nominees
• 2021 winners and nominees
• 2020 winners and nominees