People in the News

Members of the Canadian Urban Transit Association elected the association's officers and directors for 2011-12 at its Annual General Meeting in Regina, Saskatchewan. Changes to the executive committee include the election of John King, city of Lethbridge as chair; Bob Paddon, TransLink (Vancouver) first vice chair; Stéphane Forget, Société de transport de Montréal, vice chair — communications and public affairs; Donna Shepherd, Burlington Transit, vice chair — small systems; and, Paul Smith, vice chair — business members, New Flyer Industries, vice chair — business members. Charles Stolte, Edmonton Transit, becomes immediate past chair. View the full list of executive committee and board members at www.cutaactu.ca.

New Flyer Industries Inc. announces the appointment of Keith Sheardown to the New Flyer aftermarket team to lead the planning and implementation of Vendor Managed Inventory ("VMI") Services. Most recently, Sheardown spent more than 10 years with Bombardier Transportation; his last position was general manager, technology solutions, where he was involved in all aspects of supply chain management as well as vehicle maintenance and reliability performance for large rail customers.

Alexandria Transit Company has named Raymond Mui as the new transit planning manager. Mui will be responsible for the development of a new, high-frequency, express bus service between the King Street Metro and Mark Center, in anticipation of the opening of the BRAC-133 complex in August.

Kenneth Mitchell has been named program manager of information security at Parsons Brinckerhoff. Prior to joining Parsons Brinckerhoff, he served as security and compliance manager for Kraft's outsourced security program at EDS.

Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Company (MBCR) announced the appointment of Bernard McCall as the company's chief mechanical officer and Edwin Motte as chief transportation officer. As chief mechanical officer, McCall is responsible for all MBCR mechanical operations, maintenance and inspections; and provisions for safe, reliable passenger coaches and locomotives. Motte is responsible for management of all commuter rail lines and train movement, including oversight of schedules, onboard staff and fare collection.

Susannah Kerr Adler, AIA, has been named a vice president in the Washington, D.C., office of URS Corp. Kerr Adler will serve as URS' national director of transportation facilities. In this role she will lead the growth and development of the transportation facility practice across all modes. She joins URS from an international professional services firm where she most recently served as project director and principal-in-charge for numerous multi-disciplinary transit projects, as well as national director for sustainability.

HNTB Corp. has added four rail professionals to the firm's Northeast Division. Jeffrey Parker has joined HNTB's Philadelphia office as an associate vice president and senior project manager. He brings more than 22 years of senior level experience at multimodal transportation agencies with a wide variety of transportation management experience, including operations, maintenance, program management, legislative affairs, regional transit development and financial performance management. Al Trotta, PE, has joined HNTB's Philadelphia office as a senior project manager. He brings more than 30 years of experience in engineering – 17 years working for the Long Island Rail Road and the Port Authority Transit Corporation. Joseph Pizzurro, PE, has joined HNTB's New York office as an associate vice president, director of rail, New York metropolitan area, where he will work with HNTB's Northeast Division high-speed rail, intercity rail and transit teams focusing on growing the rail and transit practice. Lester (Les) Eckrich, PE, has joined HNTB's Wayne, N.J., office as senior project manager.

The Mass Transportation Authority of Flint, Mich., board of directors authorized a one-year contract to Edgar H. Benning, for the position of MTA general manager. Benning has been acting chief of staff over the last few months.