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Who's Doing What in the Industry

 He is a former member of the APTA Executive Committee, APTA Board of Directors and numerous APTA committees.

New York State Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo called Prendergast “an incredibly effective chairman and CEO and among the finest public servants I have had the privilege of working with.”


Michael Sanders, transit administrator, transit and ridesharing, for Connecticut DOT and a member of the APTA Executive Committee, recently was inducted into the NorthEast Passenger Transportation Association Hall of Fame. He was joined at the event by Anna Barry, CTDOT deputy commissioner, chair, APTA High-Speed and Intercity Rail Committee, and member, APTA Board of Directors; David Lee, co-nominator and general manager, HNS Divisions of Connecticut Transit; James Redeker, co-nominator and CTDOT commissioner; and Richard Andreski, CTDOT Bureau Chief of Public Transportation and co-chair of the APTA Early Career Program Task Force.


WASHINGTON, DC—WTS-DC Chapter has named Jennifer Mitchell, director, Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, its Woman of the Year. She was chapter president in 2006-2007, was named the chapter’s Member of the Year in 2010, and has more than 20 years experience working on public transportation projects based in the Washington metropolitan region. Mitchell is a member of the APTA Executive Committee and serves on numerous APTA committees.


WASHINGTON, DC—The Transportation Research Board (TRB) has announced that Gwen Chisholm-Smith, a TRB employee since 1993, has been named TCRP manager with overall responsibility for the Transit Cooperative Research Program.

Before coming to TRB, Chisholm-Smith worked for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and earlier was a legislative aide to the Montgomery County (MD) Council.

She earned her Juris Doctor and master of arts degrees from the University of Baltimore.


KNOXVILLE, TN—Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) announced the appointments of Savannah Leeper as transit marketing specialist and Andrea Schneibel as transit communications specialist.

Leeper comes to KAT from Sun Metro in El Paso, TX, where she oversaw marketing and communications, special events and media relations. Schneibel previously was a freelancer for clients such as Scientific American and the National Audubon Society.


JACKSONVILLE, FL—Tim Rock has joined TranSystems Corporation as regional vice president for the Southeast Region, which includes 10 offices in five states. He earlier worked for TranSystems for 16 years in a multitude of roles including rail team leader, director of operations and regional vice president for the Midwest Region.


PHOENIX—Eberle Design Inc. (EDI) has appointed John Shearer as sales manager. Shearer has more than 14 years of industry experience, including more than 12 years with Iteris and, earlier, senior sales and marketing positions at Capital Engineering and Laser Industries.


STOCKTON, CA—The San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD) announced the appointment of Thomas Drozt as chief operating officer.

Drozt has more than 17 years of experience, serving most recently as director of bus transportation for the Maryland Transit Administration. He also held management and executive positions at Dunn Transportation, Xerox Corporation, MV Transportation and Veolia Transportation.


SALT LAKE CITY—Greg Bell, lieutenant governor of Utah from 2009-2013, has joined the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) Board of Trustees, appointed by Gov. Gary Herbert.

Bell also is a former member of the Utah Senate and mayor of Farmington, UT, and a past chair of Envision Utah, a nonprofit organization designed to promote sustainable growth along the Wasatch Front. He currently is president of the Utah Hospital Association.

UTA also elected the following officers: Robert McKinley, chair, and Jeff Hawker and Sherrie Hall Everett, vice chairs.
McKinley, a labor and employment attorney, succeeds H. David Burton. He has served on the UTA board for two and a half years, representing municipalities within Salt Lake County and Grantsville and Tooele in Tooele County. He will serve as board chair for the remainder of his term, which expires in December 2017.

Hawker, who represents the same geographical area as McKinley, is a former assistant city manager for Riverton City and rail projects coordinator for West Valley City.

Hall Everett represents municipalities within Utah County and is the founder of Creative Stream Inc., a marketing firm.


CINCINNATI—Gary Greenberg has joined the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority Board of Trustees. He is a shareholder with the labor and employment law firm Denlinger, Rosenthal and Greenberg Co.


STEVENSVILLE, MD—Stertil-Koni announced the appointment of Jill Kubatko as a marketing associate. She has 15 years experience in journalism, marketing and communications, including marketing strategy, news writing, web content and management, social media, graphic design and administration.


NEW YORK CITY—Paul McIlree has joined STV as vice president in the firm’s Transportation & Infrastructure Division, based in Florida. A designer and project manager with nearly 20 years of experience in the management, coordination and design of transportation infrastructure projects, he will oversee the firm’s business plan for design-build and P3 initiatives.


DES PLAINES, IL—Motor Coach Industries (MCI), a subsidiary of New Flyer Industries Inc., announced that Ron Miller, who began his career with MCI at its Ohio service operation, has been named director of the company’s six service centers in the U.S. and Canada.

Miller began his career with MCI 12 years ago at the former service center in Loudonville, OH. Most recently he was fleet services manager, responsible for heavy-duty collision and repair projects at MCI Service Center locations. Before joining MCI, he was an automotive technician who rose to lead service operations for dealerships.


NEW YORK CITY—Thomas Grassi has joined HNTB Corporation as senior project manager for infrastructure and transportation architecture, based in New York City.

Grassi comes to HNTB from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where his efforts included leading the reconstruction and restoration of the World Trade Center’s public transit facilities immediately following 9/11. His more than 30 years of experience include managing the planning, design and construction of some of New York City’s most architecturally significant and high profile programs, including the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, and leading the planning and design of the AirTrain systems at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.


STATE COLLEGE, PA—The Centre Area Transportation Authority announced that Mark Parfitt has joined the board of directors, representing Patton Township. He succeeds Wendy Pardee, who stepped down from the board.

Parfitt is the founder of Mark Parfitt Consulting, a management and marketing company. Earlier he spent nearly a decade in strategic marketing for higher education.


DALLAS—John Adler, vice president, procurement, for Dallas Area Rapid Transit and chair of the APTA Procurement and Materials Management Committee, recently received the Giulio Mazzone Distinguished Service Award by the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO).

The award recognizes service, on a continuing exemplary basis, to the public purchasing profession. Adler received recognition for 40 years of leadership in public procurement, including serving as a NASPO board member and past president. He has spent nearly 20 years as a certified instructor and wrote two procurement textbooks.


ISELIN, NJ—Mary Cay O’Malley has joined Mott MacDonald as a senior vice president and project delivery leader, based in the firm’s Cleveland office. She has 28 years of experience in managing and supporting large, complex transportation projects including Seattle’s East Link light rail extension and Denver’s T-REX light rail and highway expansion project.


SAN ANTONIO, TX—Hope Andrade, chair of VIA Metropolitan Transit’s Board of Directors, recently received the 2016 Russell H. Perry Award co-sponsored by Texas DOT, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and the Texas Good Roads Transportation Association, to recognize individuals for their significant contribution to the field of transportation.

In 2004, Andrade became the second woman in the history of Texas DOT to serve on the Texas Transportation Commission; she became the commission’s first woman chair in 2008. Later, then-Gov. Rick Perry appointed her Texas secretary of state, the first Latina in that post.


PHILADELPHIA—Craig L. ­Martin has been elected chairman of Hill International’s Board of Directors. He joined the board in February 2016 and has almost 45 years of experience in the international engineering and construction industry.

Martin retired in 2014 as president and chief executive officer of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. He became the company’s president in 2002 and CEO in 2006.


CHICAGO—The Metra Board of Directors has elected Norman Carlson, an accounting professional with extensive experience in the rail industry, its chairman. He joined the board in 2013.

Carlson worked 34 years with Arthur Andersen Co., where he provided audit, income tax and financial consulting services to numerous railroads as head of the North American rail industry practice. In 1990, he was named worldwide managing partner of Andersen’s Transportation Practice, serving in that capacity until retiring from the firm in 2000. That same year he formed Carlson Consulting International, serving as a short-term executive in challenging situations.

Also, the Metra board appointed ­William (Skip) Benz the agency’s acting chief audit officer, taking over an internal auditing function that has been handled by an outside auditing firm since 2014. He is currently Metra’s ethics officer, a position he will retain, and associate general counsel.

Benz came to Metra in 2013 from the Office of Inspector General for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor, where he served as assistant inspector general for the Regional Transit Board Division since 2010. Earlier he was an attorney in Washington, DC, with a private law firm and for the U.S. Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration.


JACKSONVILLE, FL—Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry has reappointed ­Isaiah Rumlin to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority Board of Directors. He joined the board in 2012 and previously served from 1987-1991.

The JTA board later elected Rumlin to chair the board in 2017, succeeding Scott L. McCaleb. Also elected were Kevin Holzendorf as vice chairman, Ari Jolly as secretary and Denise Wallace as treasurer.

Rumlin is the managing member of Rumlin Insurance Agency and president of NAACP Jacksonville, Mayor Alvin Brown appointed him to the JTA board in 2012 and he was reappointed by Mayor Lenny Curry in October. Rumlin previously served on the board from 1987-91.


WASHINGTON, DC—The Council of Minority Transportation Officials recently elected Warren Montague, general manager for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s MARTA Mobility contract with MV Transportation, as its national chair.

Other officers are Freddie Fuller II, mid-Atlantic transit and rail market leader, CH2M, first vice chair; Dianne T. Mendoza, vice president, Office of Diversity and Federal Compliance, and DBE liaison officer for VIA Metropolitan Transit, San Antonio, TX, second vice chair; and Loretta Kirk, deputy general manager-finance and administration, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, secretary-treasurer.

Members-at-large include Tanya Adams, assistant vice president and manager, community relations and diversity, for WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff in Chicago; Clinton B. Forbes, executive director of Palm Tran, West Palm Beach, FL; and Emille Williams, vice president, operations, Central Ohio Transit Authority, Columbus.


CAMBRIDGE, MA—Cambridge Systematics announced the promotion of Karen Nocito to chief financial officer after 19 years as the company’s controller. She has served as interim treasurer since the departure of the previous CFO in June 2016.

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