APTA | Passenger Transport
November 8, 2010

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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

People on the Move

Robert (Bob) Campbell
OCEANSIDE, CA—Robert (Bob) Campbell, chairman of the North County Transit District (NCTD) Executive Board, has announced his retirement after more than 20 years of public service. He was elected to the Vista City Council in 2002 and joined the board the following year.

During his tenure as board chairman, Campbell introduced major business improvements such as developing customer-focused business and mobility plans, a Marketing and Strategic Communications Plan, and reinventing the district’s customer service model. When NCTD faced a significant budget shortfall, his leadership enabled the district ultimately to close a $15.5 million deficit and balance the operating and capital budgets while maintaining service levels and fares and preserving jobs.



Sallye Perrin, George A. Hodges, Mel Sears, Timothy Reynolds, Efren Alcala, Matthew Bieschke, Alastair Sawers
NEW YORK, NY—Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) has announced the following appointments.

Sallye Perrin has been named a vice president based in PB’s Baltimore office, serving as strategic pursuit manager for the development of public-private partnerships throughout the U.S. and Canada, with a focus on transportation. Perrin has 32 years of planning and engineering experience as a senior technical advisor, project director, and environmental and planning manager for transportation projects throughout the U.S. and Canada, and previously worked for PB from 1986 to 1994.

George A. Hodges has been named a senior engineering manager in the firm’s Los Angeles office, serving as a systems engineering lead for rail transit design/build projects.

Hodges has more than 42 years of diversified transit/railroad experience in the U.S. and abroad. He previously worked for PB from 2002 to 2007 as a manager on transit projects in New York City and St. Louis. More recently, he was civil/systems integration manager and University Link engineering manager at Sound Transit in Seattle.

Mel Sears has been named area manager for PB’s office in Portland, OR, overseeing operations in Oregon and southwestern Washington State. He comes to the company with 25 years of experience, including service to the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon in Portland. Sears was a member of the Oregon Transportation Vision Committee for the 2009 legislative session that helped shape the passage of the state’s Jobs and Transportation Act.

Timothy Reynolds, a 30-year transportation professional, joined PB as a senior principal technical specialist in the Cincinnati office. He worked for the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority in Cincinnati for 15 years, most recently as chief policy architect of transit and multimodal transportation planning and development, and earlier was a senior consultant with ATE Management and Service Company (now First Transit).

Efren Alcala was named a supervising engineer in PB’s New York City office, working on the MTA Long Island Rail Road East Side Access project. He has 35 years of experience in the design of plumbing and fire protection systems for commercial, institutional, health care, and industrial buildings.

Matthew Bieschke joined the Washington, DC, office of PB as a principal consultant leading the Investor Advisory Services practice for infrastructure investors, lenders, and developers across all industry sectors. He has served as a senior advisor to international infrastructure investors and developers on landmark transactions across North America and in Europe.

Alistair Sawers has been named a principal consultant in the PB’s Finance & Investment group, based in San Francisco. He has 16 years of experience in project and infrastructure finance for public-private partnership projects and acquisitions, and formerly was head of Western U.S. for RBC Infrastructure and Project Finance and head of U.S. transportation public-private partnership advisory for Ernst & Young.






 


Mary McCahon
CLEVELAND, OH—Mary McCahon has joined the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority as media relations manager. Her 15 years of corporate communications, marketing, and media experience include seven years as a television reporter and anchor for three stations in Texas, including being part of the start-up team for KFOX news in El Paso, Texas. She also worked for Delphi Corporation in Mexico and, later, in Detroit, then with two public relations agencies in Cleveland.






 
Min Wei
SAN DIEGO, CA—Cubic Transportation Systems Inc. announced the promotion of Min Wei to vice president of financial operations worldwide. He had served in this post in an acting capacity following the promotion of Matt Cole to managing director of Australasia operations.

Wei was vice president of finance for ERG Transit Systems from 2003 to 2009 and earlier held executive finance management positions in other high-tech and telecommunications businesses. He joined Cubic as vice president of commercial activities in 2009 when Cubic acquired selected Vix ERG assets in North America.

 

Doran Barnes
LOS ANGELES, CA—The Access Services Board of Directors elected Doran Barnes as its chairman for the next fiscal year. Barnes, who is also the executive director of Foothill Transit in West Covina, CA, has served on the Access Services board since 2005; this is the second time he has served as its chair.

Jano Baghdanian, transportation administrator for the city of Glendale, will serve as vice chair; Joseph Stitcher, assistant director of transit operations for Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus, as treasurer; and Theresa DeVera, appointed to the board by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, as secretary.




Nigel Astell
VIENNA, VA—Delcan Corporation announced the appointment of Nigel Astell as a senior principal within the company’s Transit Division.

Astell is an international transportation professional with more than 24 years of experience in project planning, project delivery, business planning, performance improvement, transportation planning, and urban transit operations. Prior to joining Delcan, he worked with Steer Davies Gleave, Booz Allen Hamilton, and the London Underground.




 

William (Bill) Velasco, Faye Moses-Wilkins, Scott Carlson, Loretta Ellerbe
DALLAS, TX—Dallas businessman William (Bill) Velasco has been re-elected chairman of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors. A board member since 2001, Velasco was first named chair in 2009.

Faye Moses-Wilkins, representing Cockrell Hill, Dallas, Glenn Heights, and Plano since 1999, was elected vice chair. Dallas member Scott Carlson, a board member since 2003, was elected secretary and Plano member Loretta Ellerbe, appointed in 2008, assistant secretary. Officers serve one-year terms.

 

Michael Reynolds, Victoria Learn
INDIANAPOLIS, IN—Michael Reynolds has joined IndyGo as director of procurement. He worked at the transit agency five years ago as a maintenance supervisor before being called to active duty with the U.S. Army Reserve, and recently retired from the military after 28 years.

While on active duty with the military, Reynolds served as a lieutenant colonel responsible for developing and communicating organizational change management and military operations plans. He was a key planner in the Base Realignment and Closure initiatives for U.S. Army units and installations in Europe.

IndyGo also named Victoria Learn its new director of maintenance, the first woman to serve in this post. She joined the agency in November 2009 as manager of warehouse distribution and, in her new job, will be responsible for planning and directing vehicle and facility maintenance operations and programs.

 

Sean Rugless, Melody Sawyer Richardson
CINCINNATI, OH—Sean Rugless, a member of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) Board of Trustees for more than two years, has been elected board chair. He succeeds Melody Sawyer Richardson, SORTA chair since 2007, who left the board after being elected chair of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra board.

Rugless is president and chief executive officer of the Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce; an alumnus of Leadership Cincinnati and Cincinnati Business Courier Forty under 40; and a member of the Urban League’s African-American Leadership Development Program.

 

Martin Elton
NEW YORK, NY—AECOM announced the hiring of Martin Elton as projects director for the firm’s U.S. high-speed rail practice.

During his 30-year career, Elton has worked on a wide range of rail infrastructure projects, including high-speed and heavy rail. He also has specialized in light rail and metro projects, such as the Channel Tunnel High-Speed Railway and Docklands Light Railway in London and the Copenhagen Metro in Denmark.

 

Barbara Moulton, Carla Howze
BOSTON, MA—The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has named Barbara Moulton assistant general manager for customer communications and marketing. She heads the new Customer Support Services Department, created through a merger of the Marketing Communications Department with Customer Communications, formerly known as the Customer Support Services Department.

Moulton has 20 years of experience at the MBTA. She is a member of the APTA Marketing and Communications Steering Committee; chairs the Marketing-Ad Revenue Task Force; and is a graduate of the Leadership APTA Class of 2001.

Carla Howze, who has led Customer Communications for the past six years, will continue in this role and will work directly for Moulton.

 

Don Sherman
OMAHA, NE—Don Sherman, P.E., has rejoined HDR as director of strategic pursuits for transportation. He will oversee the business group’s global strategic pursuits program.

Sherman has more than 35 years of industry experience, previously serving HDR from 1998 to 2008. More recently, he was a chief marketing and sales officer with MWH Global Inc.

 

Gary Stobb
HOUSTON, TX—Gary Stobb, P.E., director of engineering infrastructure at Brooks and Sparks Inc., recently joined the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Board of Directors as a representative of Harris County. He succeeds Jackie Freeman.

Stobb has worked as an engineer for the past 40 years, including 20 years for Harris County in the Public Infrastructure Department.

 

Nikki Frenney, Erica Noble, Doug Gies, Brad Cornelsen, Wayne Fritz, Don Johnson
FAIRFIELD, CA—MV Transportation Inc. has announced the promotions of several company managers.

Nikki Frenney, vice president of public affairs, has been promoted to senior vice president. She has been with the firm since 2004.

Erica Noble, a 10-year employee who served most recently as director of tax, has been promoted to vice president of tax.

Doug Gies has been promoted to east group president after serving as regional vice president of MV’s Mountain Area for the past three years. He will oversee the company’s team of regionally based vice presidents and support personnel.

Brad Cornelsen, interim chief financial officer since June 2010, has been named to the position on a permanent basis. He previously was MV’s director of finance and group controller-east.

Wayne Fritz has been promoted to MV’s Southwest Area regional vice president from regional vice president/general manager of the Foothill, CA, Division. His new position will give him responsibilities in California, Arizona, Idaho, and Utah.

Don Johnson, regional vice president for Canadian operation, will now oversee an extended service area across the northwest.

 

Paul Menaker
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Paul Menaker, Ph.D., has joined Stantec as senior principal in the company’s transportation practice, based in San Francisco. He has more than 30 years of transportation industry experience in both the public agency and land development arenas.

Prior to joining Stantec, Menaker served as principal for a national planning, transportation, and engineering firm where he was responsible for project management and business development for the company’s western region. He also served as project manager for several transportation operations studies.



 

Len Carey, Joe Edd, Don Klaver, Amanda Shapiro, Kelley Yates
ROCHESTER, NY—Stantec has added five new specialists to its rail signals group in Rochester. This division designs and manages the implementation of signal systems for all types of rail operations throughout the country, including transit and light rail systems in Philadelphia, Houston, Cleveland, Dallas, and Miami.

Len Carey has joined the firm as a senior signal specialist. Carey has more than 35 years of experience in the rail signal industry, most recently working for Alstom Signaling.

Joe Edd, an application specialist, was a process control engineer at Kodak for nearly 25 years.

Don Klaver has joined the firm as a signals specialist. He has 16 years of experience in railway signal engineering and most recently worked for Safe Tran.

Amanda Shapiro is an application technician. She holds a degree in graphic design from Lindenwood University in St. Louis.

Kelley Yates, a former intern with the company, has been hired as an application technician. She holds a degree in interior design from Georgia Southern University.

 

Michael S. Townes
COLUMBIA, SC—Michael S. Townes, APTA chair in 2007-2008, has joined Wilbur Smith Associates as national transit services leader.

Townes was the first chief executive officer and president of the Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads in Hampton, VA; he began as head of the former Peninsula Transportation District Commission in 1988, then also became interim executive director of the Tidewater Transportation District Commission from 1998 until agencies merged in 1999.  For APTA, he is a member of the American Public Transportation Foundation and the High-Speed and Intercity Rail Committee and an honorary member of the Board of Directors.

 

Stephen D. Van Beek
BURLINGAME, CA—Stephen D. Van Beek, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of the Eno Transportation Foundation, will join LeighFisher in the newly created position of chief of policy and strategy, effective Dec. 1, based in the Reston, VA, office.

Van Beek has worked in a variety of private, nonprofit, and governmental positions in transportation.

In addition to his tenure with Eno, he was director of the Jacobs Consultancy (now LeighFisher) Federal Practices Group and and was a DOT associate deputy secretary and director of the Office of Intermodalism.

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