September 23, 2016
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Excellence and Value at the Heart of Our Efforts: New Chair Thanks Industry; Previews Priorities

BY DORAN J. BARNES
APTA Chair
Executive Director, Foothill Transit
West Covina, CA

Our session is entitled “Where public transportation goes, community grows.” When I think about community, I think about my first involvement with APTA at the Houston EXPO in 1990. I realized that this was a special industry, a community of people.

Eight years later, I had the distinct pleasure of being a member of the Leadership APTA class that began its year at the Annual Meeting in New York. And, again, I remember how important this community was, how valuable it was to come together, to have all these amazing experiences, and to be with these great leaders.

I am very proud to be the first graduate of Leadership APTA to be standing here as your chair … [and] I’m proud to be part of an industry that invests in its future, in its young people, and that really cares about what we do to provide mobility as a tool to improve the communities and the lives of the people we serve.

It really goes deeper than just the sense of community. This is a family. We come together as a family of professionals, a family that so deeply cares about the work that we do, the services that we perform, and this great association. Valarie [J. McCall] led us through some very difficult discussions and decisions. And I know that we are stronger because of the leadership that she provided and the journey that we have taken.

I’ve thought a lot about this moment for a very long time. And I often wondered what this day would be like. Am I coming to an association that is facing a difficult time?  How strong is this family?  Well, there was an event that happened on July 7th [the attack on DART police officers and the death of Officer Brent Thompson] that quickly erased all those concerns that I had about the strength of this great family.

Our transit community united during that moment of crisis. In less than 24 hours, the hashtag “dartsinourhearts” was created to show our solidarity. It’s moments like that when we realize we make a difference in the world. We are committed to building a united, inclusive and strong APTA, to overcoming challenges and creating opportunities, and to continuing to succeed and grow as an industry and as a family.

During the upcoming year, we have a tremendous amount of work to do. I know that we are going to have lots of lively discussions, and, yes, disagreements. And I suspect that we’re going to hear different opinions and have different ideas. But in the end, we’re going to continue to work toward the goals that we all hold so dear.

To start, what is always our first priority as an industry?  Safety and security first. We’re keeping safety and security top of mind in all of the work that we do. Making sure that we’re focusing on that generational shift [in safety], that we’re supporting our members and communities, and making sure that safety and security is our absolutely first priority.

Second, the election is 57 days away. Our agenda must be an urgent priority for the new president and the new Congress. We’ve already begun that great work; we had a level of exposure and engagement at both the Democratic National Convention and Republican National Convention that our industry has not seen before. We’re going to continue building on that momentum. The great news is the tremendous amount of discussion about possible infrastructure investment. We have to be ready to move into that discussion.

Third, we not only have an opportunity, but a responsibility to continue to strengthen APTA’s governance structure, which is key to our future success. We already have a governance and bylaws task force that is well underway. We started this annual meeting with some robust discussions about new ideas and directions with the same passion that we bring to all the work we do.

Our bylaws were last updated five years ago. We want to make sure that we’re preserving the great things that came out of that and take advantage of opportunities to make us even stronger. I look forward to reporting to you at our Annual Meeting and EXPO in October next year on changes we have made to ensure that APTA has a strong governance process.

The fourth item is our CEO search. We’ve created a task force that will begin to focus on one of the most important tasks that a board can ever complete. I will be personally leading the task force along with our other officers.

We’ll be identifying the skills, knowledge and leadership style that we need for this moment in APTA’s history. We’ll conduct a thorough and thoughtful national search. With Dick White in place as our acting president and CEO, we have the right person at the right time to keep us moving so that we can take our time to have that considered evaluation.

The fifth area, and it’s an area I’m very excited about, is to refresh our approach to diversity and inclusion. Our diversity council has made sure that diversity and inclusion is an important part of the conversation. Just two days ago, the APTA board of directors changed our diversity and inclusion ­policy to specifically recognize those members of our LGBTQ community. And we have even more to do.

I’ve tasked our vice chair Nat Ford, who will be serving as the chair of our diversity council, and diversity council vice chair Conan Chung with leading the effort to refresh and enhance our diversity plan, our diversity reporting and our diversity council. I’m looking forward to engaging them fully.

Now, many of you may be saying, well, my issue wasn’t on the list. There are many things that we do within this great APTA family and we’re going to continue to focus on delivering that value for all of our members. This includes our conferences, groundbreaking research, advocacy in Washington, communications strategies and the development of future leaders.

Oh, and that little thing that happens next year called EXPO. It’s going to be a busy and exciting year. Excellence and value will always be at the heart at all of our efforts.

I want to thank the Foothill Transit Board of Directors, led by Chair Carol Herrera and Vice Chair Corey Calaycay, for your endless support. I could not do this without you.

To our Access Services team, it’s an honor to serve on the board and to support the work that we are doing to provide transportation to persons with disabilities throughout Los Angeles County.

To all the past APTA chairs, as I begin this path, I will look to you for wisdom, for guidance. Each of our paths has been different and I’ll look to you for support.

And finally, to my two beautiful daughters, Tracy and Kindred, thank you for your support, your encouragement, for believing in me. And to my wife Cynthia, for your patience, your endurance and your confidence. I love you very much.

This Commentary is based on remarks Barnes made on Sept. 12 during the APTA Annual Meeting.

"Commentary" features points of view from various sources to enhance readers' broad awareness of themes that affect public transportation.

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