Virginia Miller
Director, Media Relations
Communications and Marketing

What are the top job elements you focus on the most?

As director of media relations, I work with the media, respond to media calls, and pitch stories. One of the things I do every quarter is release the ridership report. But before I approach the media to work on a ridership story I always go out to public information officers (PIOs) at APTA’s member agencies to ask for the local context behind the numbers. This way, I can offer reporters a good local story to cover. I love working with the national media to get out the good news about public transportation to millions of people.

I’ve been reaching out to PIOs since the third quarter of 2005 when gas prices spiked at $3 a gallon for the first time, and we started to see more people taking public transit. It was also when vehicle miles traveled dropped for the first time since the 1970s. That was the beginning of a shift when we started to get good stories in the national media about public transit ridership.

In 2006, I started National Dump the Pump Day, which has been a great success around the country and allows member agencies to showcase their systems. A few years ago, I reached out to the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council to be partners. These partnerships helps advance our environmental message: taking public transportation is a great way to help and protect the environment.

I’m also in charge of the APTA Awards program, which spotlights the best of the best in our industry at both individual and system levels. The program is our Oscars, and the winners are our stars.

Do you have direct contact with APTA members? If so, please talk about the two most recent times you’ve helped out a member.

I contact our members on a regular basis. Sometimes members will send me a reporter who needs a national perspective on a story, and sometimes I reach out to a PIO to include a local perspective in a national story.

For example, on Veterans Day this year, I contacted some systems I knew had terrific veterans outreach programs. I was able to place a story on CNN's website featuring Denver RTD that focused on the message that individuals with military experience have skills that are highly transferrable to our industry.

What initiatives, projects, or programs have you worked on at APTA that you have taken particular pride in completing?

I’m really proud of helping to create a media relations community for the industry. When I first arrived at APTA, the top media people at various agencies didn’t know each other. So as I was starting to know the PIOs, I began connecting them to each other. We also developed a strong media relations track at the Marketing and Communications Workshop. At the 2011 workshop, I put together the first national transit security communications program with representatives from the Department of  Homeland Security, TSA, FTA, and PIOs from three large systems—BART, MARTA, and TriRail—to develop mock scenarios
of terrorist attacks and understand how federal and agency responses would be coordinated and executed. It was an eye-opener for everyone in the room.

I really enjoy contacting the PIOs, connecting them and helping to create a solid, national community of media professionals who know each other professionally and personally. There’s a wonderful synergy. It’s great to see the PIOs collaborating and sharing their best practices.

How did you land at APTA? How long have you worked here?
I heard about the job through the grapevine. I had the idea that I wanted to be in the public transit industry when I left the Clinton administration (I was a political appointee), but I didn’t come here right away. I’ve been with APTA for 10 years.

Have you held other jobs in the public transportation industry besides working at APTA?

I’ve never had another job in public transit, but I have worked in transportation. After I graduated from Smith College, my first transportation job was with AAA New Hampshire. I was the spokesperson and lobbyist, representing 100,000 members—about 10 percent of the state’s population. My first job in DC was at the Technology Administration at the Department of Commerce. I was the government spokesperson for a presidential initiative called the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles—a PPP among the federal government and the three domestic carmakers to develop hybrid and fuel-cell technologies to develop a car that would go the equivalent of 80 miles per gallon.

Then I went to the FHWA where I worked on highway issues including safety and Boston’s Big Dig. I eventually became the head of the public affairs department and traveled with then-DOT Secretary Rodney Slater.

What professional affiliations do you have?

I’m a member of WTS and the Public Relations Society of America.

Could you tell us something about yourself that might surprise us?

I was one of the original paid staff for then-Gov. Bill Clinton’s presidential primary campaign in 1991 in New Hampshire. I was in charge of canvassing and field operations for Nashua, the state’s second largest city.

Make sure you see Virginia Miller's video, now that you've read this!