The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) Board of Trustees has renamed its 10-story administrative headquarters building in downtown Columbus, OH, in honor of William J. Lhota, who recently retired as the agency’s president/chief executive officer.

The 80,000-square-foot building houses COTA’s administrative staff, bus operator check-in, and pass sales functions.

Lhota pursued the relocation of COTA’s headquarters to the central business district in 2008 to serve as the hub of its service and demonstrate the agency’s commitment to downtown. In addition, the downtown location encourages its employees to ride the bus: COTA does not provide any parking for its employees at that facility.

“Bill Lhota’s passion for public transit in our community is evident each day to the thousands of riders who rely on transit to get to jobs, school, shopping and entertainment,” said COTA Board Chair Linda Mauger. “Bill has re-energized COTA and positioned the agency favorably to meet the transportation challenges of the future.”

The COTA board also named the agency’s leadership development program after Lhota, who conceived and launched the William J. Lhota Leaders of the Future Program. The purpose of this program is to identify potential leaders within COTA while providing training and development opportunities to candidates for advancement.

Lhota joined COTA in 2004, coming out of retirement after a senior management career at American Electric Power.