Sherrie Fisher
SANTA BARBARA, CA—Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District (MTD) General Manager Sherrie Fisher, a 30-year employee of the agency, has announced her plan to retire as of July 18.

Fisher joined MTD in 1974, when she was hired as its first female bus driver. In 1979, she moved into an administrative role as scheduler and planner. She next became manager of planning and marketing, then manager of risk, personnel, and operations. In 1988, while retaining that position, Fisher was also appointed assistant general manager. She became acting general manager in 2003 and took over the post permanently in 2004.

For APTA, she is a member of the Bus and Paratransit CEOs and Mid-Size Operations committees.

Michael Burns
SAN JOSE, CA—Michael Burns retired Dec. 31 after more than eight years as general manager of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA).

Burns’ transportation career spanned more than 30 years. He came to VTA after serving as general manager of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. Earlier, he worked for the Southeastern ­Pennsylvania Transportation Authority in Philadelphia and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston.

He was a longtime director on the APTA Board of Directors and a member of several APTA committees.

Kunjan Dayal
CINCINNATI, OH—Kunjan Dayal, C.P.M., has joined Cincinnati Metro as assistant director of procurement and stores.

Dayal comes to Metro from Portland’s Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, where he was procurement and contracts director, a position he also held at Sound Transit in Seattle.

He is an at-large member of the APTA Board of Directors.

Anthony J. DeJohn, Monir Sarker
NEW YORK, NY—Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) has announced the promotion of 22-year employee Anthony J. (Tony) DeJohn to deputy northeast region business manager, based in Lawrenceville, NJ, and the hiring of Monir Sarker as a supervising engineer in the Newark, NJ, office.

DeJohn is a PB vice president who previously served as the firm’s New Jersey area manager, responsible for overall operations and project delivery for two offices. He has worked in transportation planning and engineering for more than 30 years.

Sarker has more than 16 years experience in civil, structural, and ­utilities engineering for county and state DOTs and international clients. Previously he was a project engineer with a New Jersey engineering firm. He is also president-elect of the North Jersey Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Tony Gonzales, Graham Christie, Patrick Somerville, Terence Pao, Frank De Lima
LOS ANGELES, CA—HNTB Corporation announced the following hires as part of its expansion of services in Southern California:

Tony Gonzales, AIA, LEED AP, vice president, Los Angeles area office leader, and West Division architectural leader; Graham Christie, P.E., associate vice president and senior rail and transit practice leader; Patrick Somerville, P.E., vice president, Southern California group director; Terence Pao, P.E., project manager II, project manager, Sixth Street Viaduct Replacement; and Frank De Lima, director of government relations.

Diann Lewter
HOUSTON, TX—Diann Lewter, a longtime Houston resident and business development professional, has joined the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Board of Directors, appointed by Houston Mayor Annise Parker.

Lewter succeeds Carrin Patman, who stepped down from her post.

Lewter has served as director of the Business Development Program for Central Houston and economic development director of the Downtown District.

Dave Roberts, Bob Campbell, Tony Kranz
SAN DIEGO, CA—Full Access and Coordinated Transportation (FACT) has elected San Diego County Supervisor Dave Roberts its board chair for 2014. Roberts has served on the board since 2006 and was vice chair in 2013.

Bob Campbell, the newly elected vice chair, is a former board chair and a board member since 2006. He has also served on the Vista City Council and the North County Transit District (NCTD) Board of Directors.

Also, Encinitas City Council Member Tony Kranz joined the FACT board in January. He is a member of the NCTD board and the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency.

Rob Stevens
LIVONIA, MI—Rob Stevens, a 37-year employee of Ford Motor Company, has joined ROUSH CleanTech as vice president of strategy.

As Ford’s chief engineer, Stevens directed strategic ­planning and product development for the company’s commercial vehicles, including the new Transit Connect (2010 North ­American Truck of the Year), E-Series vans, medium-duty and super-duty trucks, and commercial stripped chassis.



Steve Greene
GERMANTOWN, WI—Steve Greene has joined WAGO Corporation as North Central Zone manager.

Greene comes to WAGO after working in sales management, product management, and customer service at Lenze Americas Corporation and Graybar Electric.



Sharon D. Howard
DAYTON, OH—The Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority Board of Trustees announced the appointment of Sharon D. Howard by the Montgomery County Commissioners.

Howard, a member of the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, is a communications professional with more than 20 years of experience in broadcast media, marketing, public relations, and economic development. She is an independent consultant for Howard Media Marketing & Digital Communication.

Luis A. Porrello
CAMBRIDGE, MA—Luis A. Porrello, P.E., has joined CDM Smith as senior vice president and national transportation market leader.
Porrello has more than 20 years of experience in the transportation industry, working specifically in traffic operations analysis and Intelligent Transportation Systems.

Patrick Watz
MINNEAPOLIS, MN—Patrick Watz, P.E., has joined HNTB Corporation as rail transit practice leader and vice president, based in the Minneapolis office.

Watz has more than 21 years of transportation industry experience, including planning, program management, design, construction management, and project controls services for highways, bridges, rail transit systems, and facilities. Prior to joining HNTB, he most recently led the engineering services consultant team for Metro Transit’s Central Corridor Light Rail Transit project in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Karyl Matsumoto, David Canepa
SAN CARLOS, CA—The San Mateo County Transportation Authority, which manages local transportation tax funds created by a county tax measure, elected Karyl ­Matsumoto chair of its board of directors. Matsumoto is the San Mateo County Transit District board representative and the mayor of South San Francisco.

David Canepa, mayor of Daly City, was elected vice chair of the seven-member board.