Vice President of Bus Operations
Denton County Transportation Authority
Jarod Varner has worked in public transportation for the past six years and is currently the vice president of Bus Operations for the Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) in Lewisville, Texas. He joined DCTA in January 2005 and has held a number of successively higher positions in the organization.
He began in the industry as an intern and then moved up through the ranks in the operations side of the business – first, as a management analyst, then, transportation manager and eventually overseeing all of DCTA’s bus operations and bus service planning. As the vice president of Bus Operations, he is charged with providing executive management level oversight to all DCTA’s operations, maintenance and service planning functions. The services include regional routes, local fixed routes, university shuttles, ADA paratransit and innovative services. He was also actively involved in the development of commuter rail service, which connects DCTA’s services in Denton County to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s light rail system. DCTA is one of the smallest systems in the country operating commuter rail service.
Varner’s involvement in the broader transit industry includes being active with the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). He is a graduate of Leadership APTA in 2009, serves on the Member Services Committee and is a former recipient of the American Public Transportation Foundation’s Dan M. Reichard Jr. scholarship. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration from Harding University and a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Texas.
Varner has a record of delivering positive results for DCTA and the industry at-large.
“It’s a common saying in our industry that transit chooses people, people do not choose transit. While I made the choice to accept an internship position with DCTA during graduate school, transit pulled me back in on two separate occasions — once when I received an American Public Transportation Foundation scholarship and later when I was selected to participate in the Leadership APTA program. Both events came at times in which I was considering positions which were offered outside the industry. The supportive natures of DCTA and APTA have led me to where I am today.”
