People in the News

Clifford Eby, former acting administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, has been named a senior vice president in the Washington, D.C., office of Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB). In his new position, Eby will be responsible for strategic efforts in rail and infrastructure markets, particularly high-speed rail. Eby has more than 36 years of executive and engineering experience within the railroad industry. His areas of expertise include rail safety, finance and economic regulatory practices, transportation policy and rail infrastructure program design. 

Gary Thomas, president/executive director for Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), has received the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) 2009 Executive of the Year Award. COMTO officials cited his leadership in the hiring and advancement of minorities, and the steady growth of DART contract opportunities for emerging and historically underutilized businesses. Thomas has been president/executive director of DART since August 2001.

Grote Industries announced the appointment of Dominic Grote as president and chief operating officer. Grote, who will have global responsibility for managing the company’s business, was named president of the family-owned, family-managed vehicle safety system manufacturer, following a move by Grote Industries’ past president, Eric Morris. Grote most recently served as the organization’s vice president of sales and marketing. Since starting his career with the firm in 1993, he has held various management positions.

The Indianapolis Public Transportation Corp. (IndyGo) recently announced the hire of Jenny Brown as manager of marketing and communications and the promotion of Mike Moles to director of maintenance. In her new role, Brown will guide IndyGo’s media relations and public outreach efforts. She will also oversee IndyGo’s marketing campaigns, internal communications and Web site management in order to enhance awareness and use of public transit services in Indianapolis. Moles was promoted to this position at IndyGo from director of procurement and will apply his 25 years of experience in maintenance to ensure the fleet is well-serviced and operates with maximum efficiency. His background includes management of planning, delivery and organization of services for both public and private transportation fields.

TranSystems Corp. announced that John Nussrallah has joined the company as vice president for its Ft. Worth office and in support of the firm’s passenger rail and transit, freight railroads and manufacturers/distributors groups. Prior to TranSystems, he spent several years at the Thomas Group, Inc. in Dallas, as both senior vice president and practice leader for the transportation and logistics sector. He served as president of Greenbrier Europe in Swidnica, Poland for two years, with sales offices in the UK and Germany.

Nussrallah also had lengthy tenures with both Trinity Industries in Dallas and Consolidated Rail Corporation (CONRAIL) in Philadelphia, where he was a corporate officer with 27 years in the operating department.

Veolia Transportation announced that Donald Saunders has been named chief operating officer of the company’s rail division. Saunders, who joins Veolia Transportation from Amtrak, will report to executive vice president – rail Ron Hartman and work with the rail management team to advance Veolia Transportation as the largest provider of contracted rail services in the United States. Ralph Power was named the new general manager for the contract that Veolia Transportation operates for Butte Regional Transit in Chico, Calif.

The announcement was made by Regional Vice President for Northern California Ron Bushman. The contract, which Veolia Transportation has operated for the last 18 years, is administered by the Butte County Association of Governments (BCAG) and provides both fixed route and paratransit services. Before moving to the Chico location, Power was Assistant General Manager for Veolia Transportation, managing transit operations in Tucson, Arizona for the company’s Professional Transit Management (PTM) division.