SAN BERNARDINO, CA—Durand Rall, chief executive officer/general manager of Omnitrans since 1994, announced his retirement effective the end of 2009. He will remain with the agency as a consultant through January.

Rall has worked in the public transit industry for 38 years, coming to Omnitrans from ATE/Ryder Systems Inc., where he was senior vice president and senior regional manager. He oversaw 13 ATE transit management contracts in the western U.S., and also worked for ATE as general manager of the Riverside Transit Agency in Riverside, CA. He also served transit agencies in Tucson, AZ: Norfolk, VA; and Minneapolis.

For APTA, he is a member of the Bus and Paratransit CEOs Committee; Bus Standards Policy and Planning Committee; Human Resources Committee; and Labor Relations Subcommittee, and formerly served three terms on the APTA Board of Directors representing Region VI.

He also has chaired both the California Transit Association and the California Transit Finance Corporation.

LOS ANGELES, CA—David Solow stepped down in December 2009 as chief executive officer of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, operator of Metrolink commuter rail. Eric Haley, a former chief executive officer of the Riverside County Transportation Commission, a Metrolink member agency, heads the authority on an interim basis.

Solow will remain with the authority in the new position of “Advisor: Interagency Initiatives.” He will focus his efforts on the interagency collaborations necessary for Metrolink to implement safety enhancements, including Positive Train Control, and interoperability agreements.

FORT WORTH, TX—The Fort Worth Transportation Authority Board of Directors re-elected its current officers for 2010. Robert (Bob) Parmelee was re-elected chairman; Gary Cumbie will continue to serve as vice chairman; and Gary Havener was re-elected secretary.

Parmelee, a board member since 2005, is a principal with the Fort Worth law firm Williams, McClure and Parmelee, P.C. Cumbie, special assistant to the chancellor of Tarrant County College, joined the board in 2007. Havener, a Fort Worth developer, has served on The T board since 2002.

DALLAS, TX—The Texas General Counsel Forum honored Hyattye Simmons, general counsel to Dallas Area Rapid Transit, with its Magna Stella Award for excellence in leadership and management for a non-profit or government agency.
 Named DART General Counsel in March 2007, Simmons has worked as a DART attorney since 1988.

 

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