July/August People in the News

July 18, 2012

Clever Devices is pleased to announce the recent appointment of two key personnel to its leadership team: Amy Miller has been named director of Marketing and Charlie Mitchell has been named vice president, Strategic Projects. Miller is responsible for marketing, brand management and customer and revenue management applications.

Chicago’s Metra has hired Alex Z. Wiggins as its deputy executive director for Administration. He will serve as the top administrative officer for the Chicago area commuter rail agency under Metro Executive Director/CEO Alex Clifford. Wiggins joins Metro from the North County Transit District in Oceanside, Calif., where he was the chief administrative officer.

BLIC North America Inc. is pleased to announce David Brandauer as its chief technology officer. Brandauer comes to BLIC with more than 20 years’ experience in both transit operations and technology. He will work closely with Christoph Herzog, chief operating officer, to expand and operate the North American business, bringing the experience and professionalism that BLIC customers have come to expect worldwide.

Ben Franklin Transit (BFT) announced the hiring of Gloria Boyce as its new administrative services manager. Boyce replaces Allen Walch who is retiring after 25 years. Prior to coming to BFT, Boyce served as director of Capital Programs Coordination and Reporting at Metro in Houston, Texas, where she directed the preparation and monitoring of project and program budgets, grant eligibility and FTA.

Paul Grether has been named rail manager for Cincinnati Metro. In this role, he will manage Metro’s involvement in the Cincinnati Streetcar project. Ultimately, Grether will be responsible for streetcar operations, vehicle maintenance, training, street supervision and other functions delineated in an operating agreement between the city of Cincinnati and Metro, which is being developed at this time. Grether worked for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), where he served as manager of Streetcar Development.

Margaret O’Meara has been named Woman of the Year by WTS International, the association for the advancement of women in the transportation industry. A vice president in the Boston office of Parsons Brinckerhoff, O’Meara is responsible for client relationship management, strategic planning and business development within the company’s New England region. With nearly 30 years of experience with consulting firms and public agencies, she is a recognized leader in the transportation field.

Carsten J. Reinhardt has been appointed as a member of the corporate board of management of Voith GmbH and as president and CEO of Voith Turbo GmbH & Co. KG. As of July 1, 2012, Reinhardt will succeed Dr. Hubert Lienhard who had held this function since January 1, 2012 in addition to his office as president and CEO of the corporate board of management of Voith GmbH. Reinhardt has nearly 20 years of international management experience in the areas of commercial vehicles and powertrain manufacturing.

Parsons Brinckerhoff has named Greg Kelly to the newly created position of global chief operating officer (COO). Clifford Eby succeeds Kelly as president of Parsons Brinckerhoff’s Americas Transportation operating company. Kelly has served in a number of leadership positions during his 20-year career with Parsons Brinckerhoff. As president of the Americas Transportation operating company for the past four years, he was responsible for managing a business unit with close to $1 billion in annual revenue and 4,000 employees located in 70 offices throughout the U.S. Eby was previously a senior vice president in charge of Parsons Brinckerhoff’s Technical Excellence Centers in the Americas Transportation company and also supported the firm’s strategic efforts in rail and infrastructure markets, particularly high-speed rail.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which oversees all surface transportation in San Francisco including the Municipal Railway (Muni), announced the appointment of Vince Harris as director of Capital Programs and Construction. Harris was previously the executive director of the Stanislaus Council of Governments (StanCOG) in Modesto, Calif., and the executive director of the Alameda County Transportation Authority. He will be responsible for the SFMTA’s $3 billion Capital Improvement Program, including new light rail extensions, facility upgrades and enhancements and system overhead wire and rail replacement projects.

Andrew Christofas, PMP, has joined Gannett Fleming as a project control specialist. He is based out of the firm’s San Francisco office. In his new position, Christofas will provide project controls and risk assessment for major transit and rail projects. Christofas brings more than a decade of project controls and management support experience to the firm. His areas of expertise include risk, schedule and cost management; overhead cost management; and business systems analysis across the transportation, aerospace and defense industries.