At the city of Santa Rosa City Bus, Mona Babauta has enjoyed managing the city’s fixed-route, paratransit, commute alternative, and bicycle and pedestrian planning programs since November 2003.

She has completed key projects that have improved the effectiveness, reliability and long-term viability of the system that led to the agency receiving the California Transit Association’s 2008 Transit Excellence Award.

She served as the project manager for the construction of the Transit Operations Building and she initiated the first major “facelift” of the Downtown Transit Mall. She has enhanced the fixed-route service by rebranding the system, transforming an unproductive fixed-route into a successful deviated fixed-route, which has reduced paratransit ridership in the community.

Babauta led efforts to “green” the system by installing emission reduction devices on its bus fleet; replacing all electric-powered lights with solar lights in the bus shelters; converting 23 percent of its fixed-route fleet to hybrid buses; and enhancing the city’s Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Program, which annually eliminates more than 200,000 single-occupancy car trips and more than 1.2 million vehicle miles traveled.

Currently Babauta sits on the California Transit Association’s Hybrid Task Force and is assisting the association for the second time in planning its annual fall conference. She also participates in several committees and assumed leadership positions in regional organizations, including the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Transit Finance Working Group.

Originally from Guam, Babauta grew up as a military brat and spent her entire childhood traveling the world, including her last two years of high school in Germany. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame and then went on to the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs where she received a master of public administration degree. Her proudest achievements would be her two daughters, Ana (7) and Mia (5 months).

Jayme Blakesley is an attorney-advisor in the Federal Transit Administration’s Office of Chief Counsel who has worked on some of the agency’s most innovative legal policies, including joint development, transit-oriented development and public-private partnerships. His other practice areas include New Starts, Buy America determinations, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) appeals and employment law issues.

His favorite aspect of working for the FTA is finding time to work with transit authorities, metropolitan planning organizations and cities on their joint development and transit-oriented developed projects, which he knows can increase the opportunity for fostering community and development partnerships. He has internalized the need for transit-oriented development and is an active, forceful member of the FTA TOD Working Group.

Taking land use and fostering community development seriously, Blakesley’s desire expands to his Alexandria community where he serves as vice-chair of the Alexandria Transportation Commission.

Blakesley lives in Alexandria with his wife Katie and his 2-year-old son, Lucas, (with a second on the way) and is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Jayme rides his bike to work twice a week — a 23-mile round trip — and is training for his second triathlon this fall.

Riding the bus when he was 13, James Bradford Jr. became pro-public transportation when he realized the opportunities and freedom as he could meet up with friends, go to the Boys’ and Girls’ Club or even the mall without needing a ride from his parents.

While attending the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, his hometown, he became a student bus operator. While at UMass Transit, he went on to work other positions, including CDL trainer, dispatcher and operations supervisor. He enjoyed working at UMass Transit and ended up majoring in public transportation and operations management.
After college Bradford worked operations at CARTA in Charleston, S.C.; then on to COTA in Columbus, Ohio; Ryder in Concord, N.C.; and by age 29 became general manager of ART in Arlington, Va.

As assistant general manager of CTTransit in Hartford, Conn., he is responsible for more than 560 bus operators, 50 supervisors and 10 managers.

He was a key supporter in the implementation of SmartDriver training from CUTA, which has lead to a significant increase in fuel efficiency and decreased wear on brakes at CTTransit. Bradford has also administered his company’s online extended learning program and is an active participant on the company’s diversity committee.

Bradford is an avid Boston sports fan — Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics and Bruins. When he’s not working he enjoys simple activities, like going to the movies, dining out, traveling, reading, writing short stories, watching TV and playing softball.

Awarded the Florida Department of Transportation Transit Fellowship in 1998, Carrie Butler spent a school year working at Star Metro (then Taltran) in Tallahassee and then had a summer internship at Miami-Dade County transit.

After graduate school, Butler worked for Dover, Kohl & Partners, a South Miami-based firm, working on new urbanist town plans. The firm specialized in design charrettes and she worked all over the country coordinating public outreach meetings and designing town plans.

Returning to Louisville to raise a family, she began working at TARC as the communications coordinator for a proposed South Central Corridor light rail project, where she showed her passion for new technology. The New Starts project was put on hold in 2004 and she transitioned into the Planning and Scheduling department.

She was soon promoted to the newly created position of director of planning and oversees the route and service planning, as well as on-street facilities. In her position she has been involved in many advances at TARC, including the installation of new online trip-planning software, the purchase and installation of bus stop management software, the development of a Transportation Management Coordination Center, the development of an on-street infrastructure position and production of a long-range strategic plan for the agency.

Butler has done presentations on design standards at the American Planners Association annual meeting and at Rail Volution and is currently working on the APTA Standards program for Sustainability and Urban Design.

As a married mother of two, Butler doesn’t have too much free time. When she can carve away a spare moment, she loves to spend time with her friends and family, preferably by water or on a sailboat.

Boring tunnels under the Hudson River for a commuter rail link between New Jersey and New York City and extending the No. 7 subway line from Times Square to Manhattan’s far west side are two of the largest and most complex mass transit projects in the New York metropolitan area. Helping to hold these projects together — making sure invoices are submitted, the schedule is kept and contractors are on track — is Ricardo (Rick) Cardentey, project controls manager with Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB).

Although the first seven years of his transit career were spent designing highways, more recently large transit projects have become his forte. Among Cardentey’s first mass transit assignments was project controls manager for the reconstruction of the 1/9 New York subway line after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 destroyed a section. Cardentey’s work on the 1/9 subway started in February 2002 and was complete in September 2002.

And even as he works on the tunnel, Cardentey continues to mentor and advise his successor as project controls manager on the No. 7 subway project, on which he worked from September 2002 to August 2006, with weekly conversations to discuss any and all issues and concerns.

A native New Yorker and avid rail enthusiast, he has ridden every NYC transit subway line.

A native of East Cleveland, Dr. Floun’say R. Caver began his transit career as an intern at the Greater Cleveland RTA while a graduate student at Cleveland State University’s College of Urban Affairs. From there he would pursue his Ph.D. in public affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas. After a year teaching at the university, Dr. Caver returned to Cleveland and the RTA as the manager of budgets and eventually worked his way up to become the director of service quality management.

At GCRTA, Dr. Caver has created the TransitStat program to monitor the entire system’s performance. The TransitStat program has resulted in savings of more than $2.5 million and performance improvements across the agency. Dr. Caver also worked as the sole RTA staffer assigned to work with seven consultants as part of a rail performance assessment. Not one to not get his hands dirty, Dr. Caver even pitched in to help clean the RTA storeroom and was caught on camera covered in dust with a facemask on!

Dr. Caver resides in Euclid, Ohio, with his wife (Tamea) and son Taj.

Dr. Caver is a facilitator and mentor with the Leadership Development Institute, where he works with his fraternity to teach leadership skills to high school-age young men in the Cleveland area.

Growing up in the New York City metro area afforded Kevin Collins a view of good public transit from an early age. The New York City Subway and the Long Island Railroad were the first choice for travel to avoid the congestion.

This expectation of good public transit weighed in his decision to attend Northeastern Universtiy in Boston where the “T” Green Line runs through the heart of campus. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with a capstone in transportation, he chose to work at a firm that offered a civil engineering position on a major light rail transit project. He connected with the fact that he could be doing something that would help to alleviate traffic congestion and provide mobility for those that could not or chose not to drive a car.

He’s moved to three different cities working on major transit projects ranging from light rail, commuter rail and high-speed rail. Over the past 14 years, working on more than 36 projects, Collins has experience as a track designer, engineering task leader, project manager and a proven team builder.

Collins has managed a wide variety of successful and award-winning transit projects, including the New Mexico Rail Runner Commuter Rail project in Albuquerque, N.M. As the project manager, he led the team in rail and station design, environmental clearance, permitting, railroad operations support and construction management of the nine-station, 46-mile system.

“One of the reasons I was drawn to transit as a career and remain in the industry is the tight-knit network of transit professionals. Relatively speaking, it is a pretty small group of people pushing big rocks. I like the camaraderie and the feeling that we are all in this together working toward a just and common goal. I just don’t think you would have that in the highway industry.” – Kevin Collins

In her 15 years in the public transportation industry, Brandi Kelly-Contreras has worked for or provided transportation expertise through private contractors such as Laidlaw, MV Public Transportation as well as public agencies, such as Orange County Transportation Authority and the city of Huntington Beach. She has worked at many sites throughout the United States and provided start-up guidance and operational assistance.

She is currently employed by the city of Huntington Beach as the transportation coordinator providing free rides to senior residence throughout the city and surrounding areas. This program has experienced a 400 percent growth in rides the last five years. She utilizes 50 volunteers and 10 staff drivers to provide this service. This is the premier senior transportation service in the county providing mobility for more than 2,600 clients. She also helped institute an “escort service” that has helped additional seniors use the service and maintain their independence.

Kelly-Contreras commands the loyalty of her co-workers and provides a great work environment for volunteers and staff. Her relationship with the passengers is excellent.
Kelly-Contreras lives in Garden Grove, Calif., with her husband, Mark, and their son, Mark Contreras Jr. 

Kelly-Contreras recently cut off 32 inches of her thick long hair and donated it to make wigs for children diagnosed with cancer undergoing chemotherapy.

Denis Desmond entered the public transit industry at the age of 15 and worked as a bus driver while studying planning in college. In 2005 San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) underwent a comprehensive operations analysis (COA) that analyzed all MTS services based on current demographics. Desmond played a major role not only the COA document itself, but in the board-approved implementation of the plan.

After a number of large public meetings, outreach events and hearings, COA recommendations were initiated in 2006. The changes included restructuring many bus routes, tweaking ADA and San Diego Trolley services, route renumbering, frequency improvements, adding limited stop service and discontinuing low ridership route segments. It was, and still continues to be, a major effort.

Desmond has been in the forefront of it all, developing maps and figures, proofing route schedules, providing English-to-Spanish translations and meeting with community leaders.
From the beginning, Desmond was not only a talented transportation planner but was well liked and admired due to his strong work ethic and love of public transit and its benefits to the rider and community as a whole.

Outside of work, Desmond enjoys amateur transportation photography and his photos have been published in newspapers, magazines and textbooks from all over the world.

Richard Farr’s education about the importance of transit in the lives of those who are transit dependent began when he took the operations manager position at the Endless Mountains Transportation Authority (EMTA). While at EMTA he had the opportunity to serve as the general manager, when they implemented an extensive deviated fixed-route system that connected the paratransit system to the fixed-route service, creating a seamless system.

In 2003 Farr became the executive director at the York County Transportation Authority. During his tenure the agency has accomplished many initiatives, including new commuter services to the surrounding metropolitan areas, a passenger alert system, AVL/MDT with real-time passenger information and the launch of the first fixed-route system in historic Gettysburg.

Farr is involved in various organizations, including the current chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Transportation Association, chairman of Commuter Services of South Central Pennsylvania, past steering committee member of the American Public Transportation Association and current Technical Committee chairman of the York Area Metropolitan Organization.

“What I love most about transit is the diversity it brings — it remains fresh and exciting. While we have accomplished a lot over the past six years in York, there is much more we need to do. In the coming years I would like us to continue to implement the mobility management model, allowing us to increase mobility options and ease access of services through the use of technology and a network of providers.” – Richard Farr

As an associate vice president for Houston Metro, Russ Frank provides leadership and coordination for agency-wide special management projects. Frank started in the Government Affairs division, where for nearly eight years he represented Metro to top local, state and federal elected officials.

Frank helped Metro get over the political obstacles to build Houston’s first light rail line. This included work with Houston City Council to get approval of a consent agreement in November 2000 to allow the line to be built in the city’s right-of-way. He worked to garner support of elected officials and community organizations, created and coordinated an agency-wide speaker’s bureau and helped manage the extensive public education campaign that led to the passage of the Metro Solutions referendum. This allowed Metro to expand its current 7.5-mile light rail line and bus system into a fully integrated regional transit system with more than 72 miles of rail.

Most recently he led Metro’s team to negotiate another contract with the city of Houston to build the next five light rail lines. Frank helped shape a fair compromise on the use of city right-of-way, utility relocations and the relationship between the city and Metro during the operation of the rail system.

Frank’s involvement in the transit industry includes being active with the American Public Transportation Association, the Texas Transit Association and the South West Transit Association. He was also accepted into and is participating in this year’s Leadership APTA class.

“I enjoy working in transit because I am helping to improve my community by providing an alternative way to commute in a car-centered city and because I am providing an important service that some people need for their basic transportation to get to places like work, school, church and the doctor.” – Russ Frank

Brian Funk got his start in transit working for CyRide in Ames, Iowa, as a bus operator while attending Iowa State University. Exceptionally bright and inquisitive as a college student, Funk would take those talents with him to Metro Transit in Minneapolis.

Funk’s resume includes a bachelor’s degree in transportation logistics and 10 years in varied positions in transit, including dispatcher, control center supervisor, assistant transportation manager and acting manager of business systems before accepting his current assignment as a garage operations manager.

But it is beyond his resume where Funk shines. Interpersonal skills and versatility are a large part of what drives his success. He is a servant, working constantly to make it easier for others, often in a behind-the-scenes manner. He is supportive, demanding strong performance yet always performing above that which he expects of others. He is comfortable interacting with the newest bus operator or long-term, senior executives.

Funk understands how good transit should operate from the perspective of a passenger, driver, supervisor and manager. He has a great understanding of how transit provides transportation as well as social benefits to a community and he understands the systemic nature of transit as well as the personal side.

Funk was about to accept a job at the campus bookstore when his girlfriend (now wife) told him to check out becoming a bus driver. He’s glad to this day he took her advice.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Lori Gale joined her father to become the fourth generation in the family’s screen printing business, Globe ScreenPrint (later Globe Transportation Graphics).

As vice president she led her company to start specializing in durable signage and decals to serve railcar builders and transit authorities to provide the interior and exterior markings for public transportation railcars. She later helped develop TransGrafix and other specialty safety markings intended to make travel on trains even safer.

Gale took the advice to have Globe join the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), and as that relationship grew, so did her involvement in transit. Gale served on the Rail Safety Standards Committee, helping write the “Rail Transit System Emergency Management” and “Rail Transit Accident/Incident Investigation” protocols. She also served on sub-committees to set new safety standards for interior signage and emergency lighting.

Gale serves on the APTA Human Resources Committee and was elected to APTA’s board of directors representing the Business Members’ Board of Governors and served for several years in that capacity.

Gale left Globe to become an executive recruiter five years ago and has since founded an Internet-based job board, FastLane Hires, which seeks to connect job seekers and industry employers in the transportation sector.

Gale happily engaged in juggling three separate, simultaneous book clubs until her third child was born. Something had to give, and the clubs were sadly sacrificed. She misses them terribly.

John Giorgis has a master’s degree in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University. Prior to that, he worked for six years at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, including four years as chairman of the United States Subcommittee on Transportation and Warehousing for the North American Product Classification System. Since joining the FTA, he has made an extremely rapid progression through the ranks and after four years at the FTA he knows more about its operation than staff who have been there for decades.

Giorgis has demonstrated outstanding leadership as program manager for the National Transit Database (NTD). He wrote the new NTD contract and led the effort to select a contractor for this program with nearly a $4 million annual budget. He has identified and contributed to the resolution of issues, championed data availability and arranged to have time series data available on the Web for the first time. Under his leadership the NTD is being thoroughly modernized: hardware, software, regulations and Web site.

Although Giorgis manages a relatively small team at FTA (three or four people) he indirectly manages another 15 at the NTD contractor and was recently selected to be a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Transit Management Committee.

Giorgis has a lifetime goal of visiting every National Park in the United States. So far, he has made it to more than 250 of the 391 National Parks, including the National Park of American Samoa — where he enjoyed riding the jitney-like transit system known as the Aiga (Family) Bus.

Goldman is one of the leading technology experts in the transit hybrid-electric industry. Since college, where he worked on one of the first Georgetown Fuel Cell Buses while he lead his University of Maryland team which won first place in the national DOE-sponsored Future Truck 2000 competition, Goldman has been a true pioneer in the advancement of hybrid technology.

For more than seven years Goldman was employed by ISE Corp., serving in various roles, including manager of engine development for hybrid applications, manager of technical training and manager of heavy-duty certifications, as well as lead engineer and/or project manager on more than 12 heavy-duty hybrid systems.

Goldman joined Proterra LLC in March 2008, where he shares his experience in the areas of engine certification, technology validation and hybrid drive train development, as well as participating in various marketing and trade-related development programs commercializing Proterra’s fast charge battery electric technology.

His latest drive is in creating state and nationwide partnerships between public, private and governmental agencies to develop, test and commercialize zero-emissions technology for heavy-duty transportation.

Goldman is a member of numerous APTA, SAE, FTA and CARB committees, including being recently elected to the vice-chair position for clean propulsion technology for APTA. He has also published papers for and/or spoken at numerous EVS, APTA and SAE events.

When not working on bus projects, Goldman likes to go sailing on their plug-in sail-electric boat, bike ride on the Pacific coast with his daughter and wife, hike in the local canyons and mountains, and play folk/blues guitar.

In 1999, Christopher Hart started working for the MBTA monitoring ADA compliance and for the next three years learned the ins and outs of the system that few staff members ever learn. He left the agency for the Institute for Human Centered Design but didn’t leave transit. Instead he helped the environmental justice and disability community organize and push for better service. When the disability community sued, Hart became the technical advisor through the discovery process and went on to provide in-depth guidance during negotiations and much of the settlement content.

Today, Hart serves on Project Action’s national steering committee and the Transit Research Board’s accessible transportation committee, but also continues his local work by providing ongoing technical assistance to the MBTA.

Hart developed MBTA’s riders guide — Getting Around Boston for People of All Abilities — and has led the development of its new elevator specifications and elevator capital plan. Most recently he led its advisory committee through the development of new specifications for heavy and light rail vehicles.

While he remains a force locally, especially in legislative machinations, Hart is increasingly involved in Washington as it gears up for reauthorization. His vision is simple, to make transit as accessible and customer-oriented as possible.

For eight years, Hart carried around  a 24-inch crowbar (that was given to him by MBTA maintenance staff who kept rescuing him) to use when he became stuck in broken MBTA elevators or on archaic bus lifts.  With the MBTA’s elevator reliability approaching 99.9 percent and an almost complete fleet conversion to low-floor buses, his crowbar is unemployed unless he travels to other systems.

As the assistant general manager for finance and administration, Hunter Harvath oversees the agency’s accounting, budget and grants, route planning and scheduling, ad sales and marketing, customer service and information, public relations, and governmental relations at the local, state and federal levels.

Before joining MST, he worked for three years at the Regional Transit Authority in New Orleans as the manager of customer service, and previous to that, for Fernandez Plans LLC, a private planning consulting firm based in New Orleans.

In the fall of 2002, Harvath was selected as one of 12 delegates for the International Transit Study Program (ITSP), sponsored by the Transit Cooperative Research Program of the Transportation Research Board.

After moving to Monterey, Harvath quickly became involved with numerous community organizations, including being an appointed member of the Monterey County Overall Economic Development Commission, a board member of the Monterey County Hospitality Association and serves on the Executive Committee of the Monterey County Business Council.

Through contacts at these organizations, MST has found willing private and public partners who are helping to fund new transit services to the benefit of the people who live, work and visit the Monterey Peninsula and Salinas Valley region of California’s central coast.

Harvath has a bachelor’s degree in city planning from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of New Orleans and, in 1999, he obtained his accreditation from the American Institute of Certified Planners.

Curvie Hawkins Jr. currently serves as the director of planning for the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) where his key responsibilities include managing and directing all planning-related efforts, including bus, rail and strategic planning. Hawkins is currently overseeing the planning of a $500 million commuter rail line from southwest Fort Worth into DFW Airport. He previously worked for Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and directed project teams during the development of bus feeder plans leading to the opening of two DART light rail lines.

Hawkins has served as president of the Fort Worth chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO), which under his leadership was awarded the 2006 Emerging Chapter of the Year. He is a member of the American Planning Association where he currently serves as director-elect of the Texas Midwest Section, and in 2008 he was accepted into the Leadership APTA program. Hawkins was appointed by the mayor as chairman of the Arlington Transit Advisory Board in 2007.

Hawkins obtained both a master’s degree in city and regional planning and a bachelor of science in economics at the University of Texas at Arlington where he was named the 2008 Outstanding African-American Alumni.

Hawkins’ current boss, Dick Ruddell, was a bus supervisor in Wichita, Kan., many years ago and may have authorized removing an unruly teenager (Hawkins) from a bus one night. That teenager would one day become his director of planning.

A 1994 honors graduate from University of North Texas, Monique Pegues began her career with the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) in 1999 in the employer services department, working directly with employers and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce to reduce the number of work trips by establishing and executing new education programs.

Promoted to community outreach liaison in the marketing department, Pegues gained broad exposure to relevant transit challenges and developed innovative solutions, literally becoming the ‘Face of The T” in the community. Her success resulted in a second promotion to the strategically significant and technically challenging position of grants and DBE administrator.

Pegues quickly established critically important relationships with federal agency personnel and congressional staff members, who recognized she was an excellent ‘go to’ person for timely, factual answers and meeting commitments. This track record resulted in her selection over 50 seasoned governmental affairs professionals as director of governmental relations. This newly created position required her to demonstrate expertise at the federal, state, regional and local levels.

A community volunteer, Pegues participates in Meals on Wheels, Big Brothers/Big Sisters and has mentored a student for several years. She rose to president of the DFW Chapter of Women’s Transportation Seminar in 2008 and is former chair of the North Central Texas Regional Certification Agency.

Pegues’ three boys have picked up her passion for public transit and of their considerable toys, they play mostly with those related to transportation.

John Hendrickson started in the industry by working with his father building lift-equipped vehicles. While attending Texas Tech University he found a position at Citibus in Lubbock as a night shift Class C diesel mechanic with the stipulation of proving his worth in 90 days because he had no formal training from a diesel technical school.

Over the next two years he kept proving his worth and was promoted to shop foreman, where he was responsible for the maintenance program of the entire fleet. The next step lead him to the operation side of public transportation, with the promotion to director of paratransit operations. He was then promoted to the position of assistant general manager, responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of Citibus all while attending college full time.

In August 2002 Hendrickson was promoted to general manager of the Waco Transit System. Over the last seven years the system has made many improvements including the construction of state-of-the-art maintenance and administration facility, restructuring of the fixed-route system, new farebox technology and a complete fleet replacement.

Currently Hendrickson is the general manager of Waco Transit System and vice president of McDonald Transit. He also serves on the Waco United Way board of directors, on the Texas Transit Association as the past president, on the Southwest Transit Association board of directors and on the American Public Transportation Association board of directors.

Hendrickson enjoys spending his free time fabricating metal and working on cars. He really enjoys alternative fuel technology and has developed a system for his personal vehicle to run on waste vegetable oil.

Throughout his career in transit, Albert Himes has shown a passion in making improvements for both transit customers and the systems providing that service. At his current system in Alexandria, Va., he has been responsible for schedule improvements that have added three new routes, 31,000 revenue hours and more than 1.3 million passengers annually over the past eight years.

He also created a new system of scheduling bus operators giving those who work weekends every-other weekend off, improving weekend attendance by more than 25 percent, which received the Virginia Transit Association’s Innovative Program Award in 2007.

He has led Alexandria’s implementation of the regional SmarTrip fare payment system, including using the Alexandria system as a test agency before rolling SmarTrip out to the rest of the region. He has also participated as a key player in representing the interests of transit agencies throughout the national capital region in the development of regional emergency response plans and been a champion of a regional real-time bus information system in which Alexandria will start demonstrating its piece in the fall of 2009.

It was a lifelong dream of Himes to one day drive a transit bus ever since he first rode an Akron Metro bus with his grandmother at age 4.

As the external relations manager for The Rapid, Kalczuk is responsible for the marketing, media relations, state and local government relations and customer service functions of the agency. She also serves as the staff liason for one of its board committees and works closely with board members on media strategy, events and speaking engagements, and public input on the system.

During her tenure so far at The Rapid, Kalczuk has been instrumental in the passage of three property tax millages; the implementation of a new name, brand identity and logo for the agency; a more comprehensive customer service department, increasing staff, hours of operation and resources; and the coordination of the selection and procurement of public art for Rapid Central Station.

She has changed the way in which The Rapid communicates with its many stakeholders on both a functional and strategic level. In her governmental affairs work, she has testified before a number of state legislative committees and has been invited by legislators to give presentations on the system

Kalczuk is active with the American Public Transportation Association and the Michigan Public Transit Association and she is on the board of the Heartside Business Association and the Saint Mary’s Alumnae Club of Grand Rapids.

Kalczuk met her husband at work – he works for The Rapid as a body technician. She and her husband Tom have two children, Maggie (6) and Andrew (5), and they use The Rapid’s decorated bus for the local Santa Claus parade as an opportunity for their annual Christmas card photo.

When Sherry Little served for eight years as a senior professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, she oversaw the implementation of TEA-21. And, as the chairman’s primary advisor on public transportation, she authored the Senate’s version of SAFETEA-LU.

During the Bush Administration, Little served as the deputy administrator, then acting administrator of the Federal Transit Administration from February 2007 until January 2009. Little led a staff of more than 500 in Washington, D.C., and 10 regional offices around the United States and managed a budget of approximately $10 billion.

Little has overseen many of the major transit capital investment projects across the country, including more than $30 billion in New Rail Starts under construction in the United States today.

During her tenure at FTA, Little directed and implemented the agency’s regulatory ad legislative agenda. She acted to develop and promote public-private partnerships throughout the country, ensuring that the private sector takes an active role in financing and developing the nation’s public transportation infrastructure.

Little spent a month in Minneapolis facilitating recovery during the I-35 bridge collapse and received the Secretary of Transportation’s Gold Medal award for her efforts to streamline federal requirements and deliver resources to aid in Minnesota’s recovery from the collapse.

Since starting her own firm, Little will continue to assist public and private sector clients succeed by tackling difficult problems in planning, procuring, building, maintaing and managing mass transportation systems and the myriad of issues surrounding those initiatives.

In what free time Little finds, she enjoys traveling and has visited more than 30 countries. She also enjoys reading, wine, is a serious foodie and a devoted yogi.

Assisting in the coordination of 15 to 20 of APTA’s conferences and workshops every year is Adam Martin. With public transit being an industry to serve others, Martin is dedicated to serving others in the industry itself. Through Martin’s experience and knowledge in meeting planning, he helps facilitate the forum for key decision makers to pave the way for the industry at conferences.

Starting in the Government Affairs department at APTA, Martin had the opportunity to see the impact public transportation on the country’s infrastructure and how that message was presented before our nation’s lawmakers. Looking for a role that offered working directly with the members and being the venue for furthering their knowledge, Martin found his calling in the Meetings & Conventions department.

As Martin says, “Public transit is an entity with one goal — ensuring its survival by providing the affordable means to get around. As an association, it is our duty to keep them talking amongst each other, and as long as we continue to do so, public transit will be around for generations to come.”

In his free time, Martin is a huge movie buff. Get him started on movies and he can talk for hours. He also enjoys a great football game — particularly the Redskins, and spending time with friends and family.

A trip to the transportation-themed 1986 World’s Fair and a sixth grade program on using the bus, including a field trip riding Spokane Transit, started Otterstrom’s interest in public transportation.

As an undergraduate in urban and regional planning at Eastern Washington University, Otterstrom was an intern for Spokane Transit. After several years of land-use planning after graduation, he went for his master’s in urban planning at the University of Washington in Seattle. It was during this time that he had an internship with the Federal Transit Administration and then an open planning position with King County Metro.

While at Metro Otterstrom was involved in several Small Starts BRT projects, transit plans related to tolling and major construction projects, and a three-agency planning process for the replacement of the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct project.

Currently at Spokane Transit Authority, Otterstrom is a director of planning and he has demonstrated the value of his expertise through projects that include a new comprehensive plan providing guidance for the implementation of a high-performance transit network, which may include further projects, such as streetcars and electrified bus rapid transit.
Otterstrom is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.

“Now is a make-or-break period for transit. Whether it will be relevant in light of the impending challenges faced by urban America will, to a large degree, depend on the execution of effective transit planning strategies and policies. I hope my efforts are part of the success of transit at this period in time.” – Karl Otterstrom

Christopher Phelps has reorganized and rejuvenated Green Bay Metro professional staff, implemented new routing and schedule changes, established broad-based community and area-wide support, and worked closely with labor to address safety and operational concerns. GBM has achieved full compliance with FTA regulations, increased ridership, improved safety and security and more cost-effective budgeting.

Starting at Citibus in Lubbock, Texas, Phelps was hired to do planning work and revamp the Parts Department. Hired as the planning assistant, he was promoted to assistant general manager before moving on to manage transit systems in Waco and Denton, Texas, prior to coming to Green Bay.

Phelps has been involved in various transit associations, including the Texas Transit Association and the Wisconsin Urban and Rural Transit Association and received the Texas Transit Association Outstanding System Award in 2005 and the FTA Region VI Outstanding System Award in 2004. He says his participation in state associations is vital to the success of any transit organization and that it has allowed him to provide better transportation solutions locally and that the associations allow agencies to provide a coordinated and consistent message to the state and federal elected officials.

“I enjoy transit because of the people. Working in public transportation has allowed me to meet people from all walks of life. From customers, employees to elected officials, I’ve been honored to meet some truly wonderful and amazing people.” – Christopher Phelps.

Todd Provost started at Utah Transit Authority in 1998 as an electrical engineering intern. Since that time he has served as a rail service engineer, a systems engineer and currently serves as project manager for systems engineering and transit vehicles.

In his current role, Provost is responsible for all systems engineering at UTA which includes system design, procurement for the traction power system, ticket vending machines and electronic fare collection equipment. He has also been responsible for the procurement, testing and commissioning of more than 220 rail vehicles overseeing contracts totaling nearly $500 million.

Provost has a can-do attitude that has served him well throughout his career. A skilled motivator and leader, he frequently works long hours and extra days to make sure systems and vehicles are delivered on time and in excellent working condition.

Provost works closely with rail operations, along with FTA and FRA to make sure that all federal rules and regulations are followed. He has the unique ability to speak knowledgeably about highly technical issues with a contractor out in the field one day and the next day deal with high-level issues regarding a $300 million contract.

Provost is building his own mountain cabin. He also loves hunting; he is even willing to hike out into the middle of nowhere in sub-zero temperatures and several feet of snow to do it.

Appointed assistant deputy administrator for finance and administration at the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) in 2007, Christine Romans is responsible for oversight of finance, treasury and audit functions, including an annual budget of more than $900 million. Prior to joining the MTA, Romans served as deputy chief financial officer for the Maryland Department of Transportation. She began her career in transportation with the Department of Legislative Services where she advised the Maryland general assembly on transportation policy, budgets and fiscal issues. She has served as senior policy analyst to the senate budget and taxation committee and as aviation business analyst to Baltimore/Washington International Airport.

Romans has 10 years of experience working on transportation-related issues. In her current role as the assistant deputy administrator, she has helped lead numerous legislative outreach initiatives related to transit funding and project implementation, as well as internal process improvements.

She serves as a senior advisor on many high-profile transportation funding projects for the MTA, which values her judgment, expertise and measured approach as it navigates the next era of transit-related development. She holds a master’s degree in policy analysis from the George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in English from Michigan State University.

Romans has won blue (and red and white) ribbons for baking at the Anne Arundel County (Maryland) Fair. 

Iyon Rosario has been a federal employee in the transit industry for 18 years; 17 of those years, she has worked in the Office of Safety and Security at the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). In her professional role as a transportation safety and security specialist, Rosario has served on several Department of Transportation (DOT) working groups, the current being the DOT Modal Distracted Driver working group.

She exercises her program management skills by overseeing initiatives such as the Continuity of Operations Program, the FTA’s Emergency Contact Database and is presently the project manager for two FTA programs; the Safety Awareness Campaign in partnership with Operation Lifesaver and the Fire Life Safety Program in partnership with the National Association of State Fire Marshals.

Rosario’s strong commitment to public safety and health is also manifest in her educational pursuits, earning her bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Brandies University. She is the mother of two beautiful boys, Miguel Angel and Marc Anthony, and wife to a devoted civic leader, Miguel Rosario.

Rosario’s hobbies include volunteerism in the area of maternal and child health, home decorating, reading, cooking, bargain shopping and crocheting.

Since joining STV as a new Drexel-educated electrical engineer, Carol Rose has dedicated herself to providing the most competent and creative engineering solutions for STV’s commuter rail agency clients. Rose first attracted notice while working as a young commissioning engineer for a major LIRR rolling stock project. After serving this project at both Pueblo, Colo., and Jamaica, N.Y., Rose moved on to become a key player in the APTA Passenger Rail Equipment Safety Standard (PRESS) effort to set rational standards for the application of FRA safety appliances for all passenger vehicle types.

From here, Rose took a key role functioning as the deputy project manager for an STV team leading the procurement of a major new fleet of EMU-style railcars. In this position, she has guided all aspects of the administrative and engineering activities of this program, gaining the in-depth knowledge and the confidence of the client needed to support the entire program as the backup to the program’s project manager.

Outside of these project duties, Rose gives back to the transit community through her role as the corresponding secretary of the Philadelphia chapter of Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS).

In her spare time Rose volunteers with the Junior League of Philadelphia where she is co-chair of the BOOsT Camp committee which is developing monthly self-confidence and team-building activities for siblings of children with cancer.

A 14-year transit veteran, Steve Sarafinovski began his career as a part-time bus driver while attending college. After graduation, he accepted a full-time bus driving opportunity and quickly rose through the ranks contributing to a number of transit properties within a variety of technical and leadership roles.

At Guelph Transit, Sarafinovski was tasked with implementing the NextBus Intelligent Transportation System, a milestone for Canadian transit as this was the first of its kind in Canada.

Sarafinovski has served with various transit properties in different capacities across southern Ontario; he has made the most of each new opportunity to further advance his career and expertise in the transit industry.

In his current role with GO Transit as supervisor of driver assignments, Sarafinovski is able to utilize and continue to develop his unique talents in GO’s fast-paced and dynamic customer-focused environment. Sarafinovski successfully leads his team to ensure operational efficiency in meeting the transportation needs of the residents of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas.

He looks forward to the challenges and opportunities that the future will bring. He will no doubt continue to bring a positive influence to the transit industry in the years to come.

Sarafinovski has traveled extensively and speaks several languages. He enjoys sharing his knowledge of languages and cultural diversity with his two beautiful daughters, Katarina and Julia-Vasilka, and lovely wife Providenza.

Julia Schick was brought into transit when Laketran was looking for someone who had an understanding of sustainability with a marketing background. Schick transitions paratransit riders to fixed-route buses through a program that encourages residents to use sustainable lifestyles.

Within four years at Laketran, Schick has helped to develop a travel training program for the system, becoming a local expert in the field. Working with all age levels across a wide range of abilities, the program has helped make riders more independent and confident in using the bus system.

Schick has established partnerships with schools, transition agencies and non-profit agencies in the community. She also established Laketran’s Ambassador Program, a cadre of volunteers to assist with travel training and at public events. This team of volunteers has enabled Laketran to participate at numerous community events, cost effectively, and affords the opportunity for the agency to engage with the public.

To garner additional support at the local, state and federal levels, Schick is working on a rider profile project to assist in legislative efforts. This involves many rider interviews to capture their story and the value of transit in their lives.

Schick is a member of the Association of Travel Training and in her community is a graduate of Leadership Lake County and a member of a variety of other community safety, education and social service committees.

When not on the streets, Schick spends her time playing soccer, cheering on the Cleveland Cavs and, most recently, learning the joys of parenthood as they just welcomed their first child, Grace Marie, on July 22.

Schlesinger is a course manager for the USDOT, Transportation Safety Institute.  As a subject matter expert, he develops, manages and presents transit safety and security courses nationwide and internationally. He has also presented at conferences for the American Public Transportation Association, South West Transit Association and the Mineta Transportation Institute.

In 2008, Schlesinger received the USDOT Secretary’s War on Terrorism Medal for his efforts performing security training to help combat terrorism. He also received the USDOT Secretary’s Team Award for his work promoting TSI’s Transit Safety and Security Program.

Schlesinger started in transit with AnsaldoBreda, where he was responsible for the commissioning, testing and acceptance of the Metro Red Line subway cars.  LA Metro’s Quality Assurance, Rail Department then hired him to investigate rail and industrial incidents and to ensure that new rail vehicles were compliant with safety guidelines, agency specifications and applicable regulations. 

Schlesinger then moved to Metro’s fleet services department, where his responsibilities included supporting revenue operations, overseeing the maintenance of rail vehicles, industrial safety, emergency preparedness and incident response and investigation.

In 2001, Schlesinger started volunteering for the city of Los Angeles, Crisis Response Team. As the second in command, he oversaw more than 100 intervention specialists who responded to incidents involving death, serious injury or violent crime. He was responsible for the training, call out and management of the group and has personally responded to approximately 75 call outs.  In 2004, he was the Volunteer of the Year for the city of Los Angeles for his work with the team.

“I love the challenge of developing and presenting training courses to transit agencies around the country.  I also really enjoy working and teaching with the best in the industry.” - Dave Schlesinger.

Jacqueline Sheader serves as the marketing manager for the Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) in State College, Penn. Sheader began her public transportation career nine years ago, upon graduation from the Pennsylvania State University, coming to CATA with bachelor’s degrees in public relations/advertising and psychology.

In her time with CATA Sheader has undertaken a number of innovative projects, including designing new bus stop signs, organizing the popular Holiday Lights Tour, developing the authority’s e-mail newsletter and finalizing the rebranding of all CATA services. Sheader also developed most of the authority’s collateral marketing materials, including its Cuddle Bus and annual holiday ornaments. As a result of her work, CATA was one of the first small transit systems to have a presence on social networking Web sites.

Sheader participates in various transportation-related activities within the state and across the country. She serves on the Marketing and Communications Committees of both the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and the Pennsylvania Public Transportation Association (PPTA) and is a member of the Women’s Transportation Seminar (Central Pennsylvania Chapter).

Sheader also recently completed her master of business administration degree from Saint Francis University. In that endeavor she was a three-year recipient of the Dan Reichard Jr. Scholarship awarded by the American Public Transportation Foundation (APTF).

Sheader and her husband are animal lovers who have three dogs, two Shih Tzus named Frank and Mr. Bean and one rescued Shih Tzu-Chihuahua mix named Gizmo.

While studying business at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, Steve Sherrer took a part-time job in the evenings as a demand response scheduler at Citibus. After about a year in scheduling, Sherrer started in the management training program. In this program he spent time working in the human resources department, maintenance department and the finance department.

Upon graduating, Sherrer was named by McDonald Transit Associates Inc. to implement the first public transit system for the city of Lawton – Oklahoma’s third largest city – in more than a quarter of a century.

In just more than seven years Sherrer has become a leader in the Oklahoma Transit Association and the Lawton community. In January of this year he was elected OTA secretary-treasurer, in April as treasurer of the Great Plains AMBUCS and in 2008-09 he served on the McDonald Transit Associates Inc. board of directors.

In 2006 Sherrer attained the highest OTA honor from a panel of independent judges, the 2006 Oklahoma Transit Manager & System of the Year. Under Sherrer’s management, Lawton Transit was recognized by the FTA as transit system with the highest percentage of growth in passenger ridership among small urbanized area transit programs, Section 5307 – FY2003 and FY2004.

In his spare time Sherrer loves to travel with his wife Rhonda. They’ll travel anywhere they get the chance, but their favorite travel adventures have come while sailing with friends in the Caribbean. He also spends his time weight training, working on home improvement projects, following Texas Tech Red Raider football, and spending time with f amily and friends.

Tubergen has been in transportation since he graduated high school, starting as the youngest licensed school bus driver in the state of Michigan. He then spent his summers driving trolley and city bus for the Muskegon Area Transit System, which then turned into a full-time position driving a city bus.

Shortly thereafter he moved into the administration office, working as one of three transit system supervisors. He has assisted with administrative planning and implemented several changes as he brings fresh ideas into the transit system, including assisting in the development and implementation of the system’s new Web site.

Tubergen also works with the local disabilities center for independent living and was even featured as “the bus driver” in their public transportation video and monthly newsletter. In 2006, after reading an article about travel training, he developed a transit training program he called, “How to Ride the MATS Bus Workshop,” which is open to the public. As the instructor, Tubergen’s two-and-a-half hour training course includes one hour of classroom instruction on “Bus Basics 101” and one hour in the field riding a fixed-route.

Tubergen can be found giving a tour to a class field trip, in the supervisor’s office, the dispatch office answering phones, scheduling paratransit rides, answering fixed-route questions, at the transit center’s customer service window, plowing the snow out of the parking lots, on board the bus performing ride checks, and talking with passengers about their concerns.

When not at work, Tubergen enjoys spending time with his friends, family and his pets – Roxie and Tyson, two Miniature Pinschers; Eian, a White-Faced Capuchin monkey; and Beaks, a duck.

Born in Guatemala, Vicky Vargas moved to La Puente, Calif., when she was 6 years old. Her transit career began at Foothill Transit in January 2000, when she responded to an ad for a part-time customer service representative. A short time later, she applied and was awarded the job of receptionist, where she coined the title, “Director of First Impressions.” In 2002 she had the opportunity to utilize her customer service skills to link bus rider concerns to operations policies when she became the operations assistant.
As the operations assistant, Vargas was responsible for maintaining the operations department files and documents, as well as total responsibility for the Foothill Transit Customer Comment System. In 2004 she achieved the position of operations manager, where her responsibilities included the planning and hosting of the annual Bus Operator and Mechanics Roadeo.

As the operations manager, her and her staff is directly responsible for the oversight of Foothill Transit’s contractors and the service supplied to the riders. During her tenure she has managed special events, including the Hollywood and Rose Bowl services.

Vargas currently serves on the APTA International Bus Roadeo Committee, as well as being elected to serve as secretary for the Southern California Regional Roadeo Committee.

Her efforts at Foothill Transit have been recognized, earning her Employee of the Month on three separate occasions.

“I would like to thank my boss for making this job exciting, taking me under his wing and being a great mentor. Come to think of it, I want his job when he retires so I can share my experience with young people moving up through the ranks.” – Vicky Vargas

According to Amber Wagner, she sought out a career in public transportation because of her compassion for people and her commitment to public service, a commitment her coworkers say is genuine. Over her career Wagner has gained experience in both the operational and administrative aspects of the transit industry.

Her willingness to share her experience and knowledge has transformed local North Carolina transit officials into an involved group of advocates.  Wagner’s efforts and advocacy have also contributed to passage of groundbreaking legislation in North Carolina that provides counties and transportation authorities in the state with the ability to utilize local revenue options to invest locally in public transportation needs.

Wagner has brought a new awareness and excitement to transit in North Carolina and poised systems state wide to further the efforts of the industry. Although she shies from personal adulation, she is greatly respected and appreciated by North Carolina transit providers and hopefully her recognition from this award can be used by Mass Transit and other industry supporters to recruit young, dynamic professionals to the industry.

Wagner is part of a transit family.  Her husband, Steve Spade, is director for Chapel Hill Transit.  It is not unusual for Wagner’s 5-year-old daughter, Avery, to ask her parents to stop talking about buses at the dinner table.

In early 2007 when Wilson became chief of staff at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA), it had been involved in the construction and expansion of the system for three decades, but the time had come to shift the focus to customer service. That meant huge changes in the organization, and, the largest reduction in force in the authority’s history.

Wilson provided expert counsel to the new general manager and other senior leadership, minimizing any lasting negative impact to the organization. In fact, her performance was such that by mid-2007, she had earned the position of assistant general manager of corporate strategy and communications.

Under Wilson’s leadership, WMATA’s communication and outreach programs have thrived. She put new tools in its communication toolbox by introducing the use of social media on the Internet to communicate to customers.

Wilson has also encouraged innovation in her management of the authority’s outreach to minority and women-owned businesses. WMATA has increased its annual disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) contracting goal from 16 percent to 25 percent, and has streamlined the eligibility certification process for the disadvantaged business enterprise program leading to a 30 percent increase of certified businesses in the authority’s DBE database.

Wilson is a transit advocate through and through. In October 2007 she took Metrorail from her home on Capitol Hill to a Metrorail station where she caught a Metrobus, which took her and her husband to Washington Hospital Center, where she delivered a baby girl.

Yamashita was born and raised on the Big Island of Hawaii, then moved to Monterey, Calif., to complete high school. He then moved back to Hawaii and graduated from Hawaii Pacific University with a bachelor of science in biology; planning on being a doctor in the near future.

It was during his senior year that he had a change of heart and, knowing a friend in California that had been operating a non-emergency medical transportation company, Yamashita sold everything upon graduation, moved back to California and started his own transportation company.

After two-and-a-half fast-growing years, he merged his company into TecTrans in 2007 and was reassigned to oversee the paratransit van service in San Francisco. As the inaugural general manager of MPT, the immediate goal was to repair a system that had been neglected by a former operator and bring accountability back to the paratransit van program.

In the span of nine months he worked to turn the on-time performance from 85 percent to 95 percent and brought complaints down to a record low.

MPT does a lot of community outreach and Yamashita can see the difference it makes to so many participants of the SF Paratransit Program. Without it, many elderly and disabled persons would not have the ability to leave their homes. He says, “Seeing the smiles you put on the elderly and disabled community is priceless …”

Outside of transit, Yamashita spends his time traveling, surfing and being active.