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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Who's Doing What in the Industry

WASHINGTON, DC—Operation Lifesaver Inc. announced that six new members have joined its board of directors.

From Union Pacific Railroad, John Allberry, general director safety, succeeds John Simpson, senior manager grade crossing compliance; from Norfolk Southern Corporation, John A. Irwin, assistant vice president-safety and environmental/chief safety officer, succeeds Cayela Wimberly, grade crossing safety director; from BNSF Railway Company, Mark A. Schultz, vice president, safety, training and operations support, succeeds Steven Neubauer, director, field safety support; and from Kansas City Southern, Jeffrey M. Songer, chief operating officer/executive vice president, succeeds Danny Lites, public safety director.

Steven Covey, chief of police and chief security officer, Canadian National Railway, and Kenneth Glover, senior vice president of safety & compliance, Genesee & Wyoming, were named to at-large seats.

NEW YORK CITY—Elliot (Lee) Sander, a former executive director and chief executive officer of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and commissioner of New York City DOT, has joined Hatch as managing director, transportation, and a director of Hatch USA.


JACKSONVILLE, FL—The Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) has announced the permanent appointment of Gregory B. Hayes as vice president of finance and chief financial officer, a job he previously held on an interim basis. Hayes joined JTA in 2016 as senior manager of financial planning and analysis.


ST. CLOUD, MN—Sunny Hesse has joined Metro Bus as director of human resources after serving as human resources director with Wright County, MN.


PITTSBURGH—The Allegheny County Transit Council (ACTC) recently elected new officers to one-year terms: James Robinson, president; Leonard Locke, vice president; Andrew Hussein, secretary; and Stu Strickland, treasurer. ACTC is a volunteer organization created to communicate rider questions and concerns to the Port Authority of Allegheny County.


PHOENIX—Valley Metro announced the appointments of Mary Modelski as internal auditor and Paula Novacek as controller to the agency’s Finance Division.

Modelski has more than 18 years of experience auditing diverse business processes, operational efficiency and effectiveness. Novacek has worked in governmental accounting and auditing for more than 24 years.


WASHINGTON, DC—Former Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) has joined the AlphaVu Board of Advisors. Kirk served five terms in the House before joining the Senate in 2010.


MEDFORD, MA—Bob Skinner, executive director of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) from 1994 until his retirement in 2015, has joined the Cambridge Systematics Board of Directors. Before becoming executive director, Skinner led TRB’s policy study activities.

Cambridge Systematics also announced that Principal and Executive Vice President James Brogan will oversee a consolidation of the firm’s planning practices in four national practice areas: planning and policy, freight and economics, safety, and transit and rail. Brogan is a 17-year employee of the company.

Tracy Selin, a principal of the firm based in Atlanta, will serve as operations manager for the new group. She has 21 years of transportation planning experience.


COLUMBUS, OH—Michael Stevens has joined the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) Board of Trustees for a three-year term, appointed by the city of Columbus. Stevens was recently named the city’s first chief innovation officer, responsible for the Smart Columbus initiative. He previously was president and chief executive officer of Lake County Partners, an economic development corporation, and the city’s deputy development director.

Also, COTA announced the appointment of Terri Eyerman as director of finance. Eyerman has served as treasurer/chief financial officer at two Ohio school districts was area treasurer for Columbus City Schools for 16 years.


OWOSSO, MI—The Byk-Rak LLC subsidiary of Midwest Bus announced the hiring of Hayden Wheeker as a national sales representative and Chuck Rodman as a technical sales manager. Wheeker joined the company following his graduation from the University of Dayton in May and previously interned there for two summers. Rodman spent more than 46 years as a service and sales representative for Thermo King.


TAMPA, FL—Kathleen Shanahan, a member of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) Board of Directors, has been selected to represent the board on the newly reconstructed Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority (TBARTA) board. Director John Melendez will serve as the alternate representative to the TBARTA board.


NEW YORK CITY—WSP USA has announced two new vice presidents: ­Stephen Bonina, based in Newark, NJ, and Kevin Cox in the ­Murray, UT, office.Bonina serves as the eastern region fleet manager for WSP’s transit and rail technical excellence center. He has more than 33 years of experience and serves on several APTA committees.

Cox has 25 years of industry experience. He returns to WSP from an international engineering organization where he served as deputy director of construction for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation rail project.


LOS ANGELES—Milo Victoria, a 41-year public transit industry veteran, has been named general manager for BYD Coach and Bus, based in Lancaster, CA. He began his career as a transit bus mechanic at Los Angeles Metro, ultimately becoming chief operating officer/assistant general manager for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s Metrobus division and chief executive officer of Omnitrans in San Bernardino, CA.

BYD also announced the promotion of Bobby Hill, previously Midwest regional sales manager, to vice president of U.S. sales for BYD Coach and Bus.


DAYTON, OH—The Greater ­Dayton Regional Transit Authority (RTA) has promoted Daron Brown, deputy director for the maintenance department since 2016, to director of maintenance.Before coming to Dayton, Brown spent more than 26 years in various jobs at the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority. He is a member of the APTA Technical Maintenance Committee.


PHILADELPHIA—Michael A. ­Carroll, deputy managing director for the Philadelphia Office of Transportation and Infrastructure, has been appointed by the city to a five-year term on the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Board of Directors. He has more than 25 years of transportation experience.


LOS ANGELES—WSP USA has named Steven Wolf business development director for the acoustics, vibration and air quality (AVAQ) group in its Los Angeles office. He has more than 35 years of experience in public transit, rail, highway, construction and building acoustics.


SPOKANE, WA—Brandon Rapez-Betty, customer and community relations manager for the Spokane Transit Authority (STA), recently was honored as a Rising Star by the Spokane Journal of Business. During his three and a half years with STA, Rapez-Betty was instrumental in the passage of Proposition 1 in November 2016 to fund the 10-year STA Moving Forward plan and led public outreach and communications for other STA projects.

Also, Emily Arneson, STA community ombudsman and accessibility officer, received the Outstanding Young Lawyer Award from the Washington State Bar Association for her contributions to the professional community, especially the young lawyers, within her initial years of practice. Emily joined STA in 2017.


LOS ANGELES—Kelly Hines has joined the Los Angeles office of CH2M as a senior payment systems manager. She previously served Los Angeles Metro as deputy executive officer and director of TAP technology systems.


FRANKLIN, TN—John R. Wingo, member attorney with the Business Litigation Service Group at Stites & Harbison PLLC, has joined the TMA Group (Transportation Management Association) Board of Directors.


ISELIN, NJ—Mott MacDonald announced the appointment of Grant Holland as a vice president in the firm’s advisory practice, based in Austin, TX. Holland has more than 32 years experience in project management and business development on both sides of P3s and design-build projects.


GERMANTOWN, WI—WAGO announced the appointment of Andy Chesla to its sales force serving southern Minnesota and South Dakota. He joins the company after 10 years in sales positions with Power/mation.

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