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APTA COMMITTEE PROFILE |
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Meet the Transit Board Members Committee!
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Transit Board Members Committee
Chair: David Stackrow, board chairman, Capital District Transportation Authority, Albany, NY
APTA Staff Advisor: Cheryl Pyatt
345 members | Find details here
What is the committee’s role for APTA and the industry as a whole?
 To aid members in carrying out their duties and obligations as policy makers for public transportation systems, to provide a forum through which members can express their views on the policy and direction of APTA and to develop a path to promote committee members for key positions in APTA including the Board of Directors and Executive Committee and other policy groups. The committee accomplishes much of its work though subcommittees including engagement/membership, ADA, legislative, board support, system size, safety and nominating.
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What are the committee’s top priorities for the year?
The committee is working on a review of our present governance structure to make sure that the structure best supports the goals and objectives of the committee and APTA’s overarching goals and objectives. Specifically, we’re working on ways to support the five goals of the strategic plan as well as APTA’s Diversity Plan. We’re also working to identify opportunities to collaborate more directly with the CEO and business member committees. We’re also planning and preparing for our committee conference, being hosted this year by VIA Metropolitan Transit in San Antonio this upcoming week.
How does the committee engage members in those priorities?
Our annual conference is a joint meeting for board members and board support staff offering both common and separate sessions. It is an opportunity for board members and staff to come together for educational sessions focusing on the policy issues we are confronted with in our respective systems. The sessions almost always focus on topics that tie to the five elements of APTA’s strategic plan: safety and security, resource advocacy, workforce development, demographic shifts and technological innovation. Other popular topics include public transit financing, transit’s role in economic development, hiring/evaluating a CEO and ADA, paratransit and other specialized services.
The committee also meets at the APTA Annual Meeting and Legislative Conference.
In addition to the educational benefit of the conference and committee meetings, an added benefit is the networking that occurs. Developing contacts within the industry provides the opportunity for individual members to share experiences, best practices and solutions to problems.
APTA’s committees play an important role in fulfilling the association’s commitment to developing industry leaders, especially young professionals. Please share how your committee encourages young professionals to participate in its work.
I think every system is facing waves of retirements on the horizon, and we are all preparing for the exit of long-term industry knowledge. Many systems have adopted professional development programs to help prepare internal candidates to replace the retirees. APTA has developed programs encouraging public transit agencies to reach out to youth. Two such programs are the biennial APTA Youth Summit and the annual APTA National Transportation Career Day. Our committee members encourage their home systems to participate in these programs.
Please share how an individual’s service on this committee can add value to his or her career.
For most transit board members, public transportation is not our primary career. We are generally appointed or elected to our board position. One of the great things about our group is that we bring external knowledge and expertise to the transit table. In this sense we are different from the career professionals who fill the ranks of business member, CEO, state association member, etc. We participate purely out of our love for and interest in what transit is all about.
Please describe the committee’s work to advance the goals in APTA’s strategic plan.
The committee is (recently) focused on advancing the goals of the strategic plan. The five elements are incorporated into our committee work plan and subcommittees are working to advance the specific goals. We are encouraging our members to become more actively involved in other APTA committees that closely tie to the elements of the strategic plan. These include the bus and rail safety subcommittees, Legislative Committee, Human Resources Committee and Research and Technology Committee, just to name a few. The specific work conducted by these committees is brought back to the Transit Board Members Committee by our members and shared with the larger group.
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