Michelle Tortolani (ENG’82, ENG’89)

Michelle Tortolani is currently Vice President, Project Delivery Fleet & Facilities, at Amtrak, leading the execution of a $10B+ portfolio of major fleet replacement programs and new and/or major rehabilitation of the necessary Maintenance of Equipment facilities to support rail passenger service delivery and operations. Her portfolio of fleet replacement programs includes the NextGen Acela (high-speed), recently introduced into service in August 2025; Airo (regional); and long distance. In this role, Michelle is responsible for all aspects of project delivery and delivering high quality assets safely and effectively, within the approved scope, schedule,
and budget.

Michelle joined Amtrak in January 2022, as Assistant Vice President, NextGen Acela Program, and was responsible for the delivery of the next generation high-speed trainsets and supporting infrastructure necessary to safely deliver faster service.

Prior to Amtrak, Michelle held both program and engineering executive positions at L3Harris leading the development of products, systems, and networks supporting air traffic management and mission critical communications and improving air traffic management operations safety and efficiency. As part of the L3Harris aviation systems segment leadership team, she led the definition and execution of engineering improvement initiatives, including digital transformation, metrics definition, and best practices and processes improvement.

Earlier, Michelle spent 10 years at XM Satellite Radio (now Sirius XM Radio), joining the organization at its start as satellite radio service was conceived. She served in roles from Director to Vice President, leading the design, development, deployment, and operation and maintenance of a national repeater network.

Michelle is a Life Member, Past Society President, and Fellow of Society of Women Engineers (SWE). She served on the Society Board of Directors from 2001 thru 2008, and as Society President 2007-2008. In 2009, she was selected a Fellow of SWE for technical and program management excellence, long-term commitment to the society, and promoting engineering to women nationally and internationally. In 2022, she endowed the Michelle Tortolani Engineering Leadership Scholarship, administered by SWE.

She also served as an at-large director of the American Association of Engineering Societies from 2011 thru 2013. Michelle is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and is an active member of the Boston University alumni network. In 2025, she joined the Boston University Engineering Dean’s Leadership Advisory Board and established the Michelle Tortolani Endowed Scholarship Fund.

Michelle graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. She is also a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Executive Leadership Development Program.