One word to describe yourself: Driven
Alma Mater: Gonzaga University
What’s your best experience on transit and what made it memorable? I am a bit biased here…I absolutely love bringing friends, family and acquaintances for their first trip onboard the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District’s trains. Public perception on public transportation tends to bring about comments related to cleanliness or safety issues or a general feeling of being uncomfortable. Seeing their reactions firsthand to how clean, modern and safe the trains are and how friendly the staff is while they are looking out the windows as vineyards are rolling by (a perk of operating in wine country!) is priceless. I love hearing stories from those same individuals weeks later about how they now commute using the train to work, have taken the train to go out to dinner on a Friday night or even have taken their grandchildren for a ride just for fun. These moments are the most memorable for me and I love being a part of changing the public perception.
Ken Hendricks, CPPO, CPPB, is a procurement and contracts manager with Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART). He began with SMART in 2016 and has become a vital part of the agency’s effort to evolve and improve. He began working with SMART while the railroad system was still under construction and he became very active in the overall transition to operations.
In addition to his involvement with initial rail operations, Hendricks also led the procurement and contracting process for the design and construction of four new rail stations, many miles of multi-use pathway, assisted with the agency’s transition to becoming a freight common carrier and assisted with the onboarding of a new microtransit pilot program.
Outside of his efforts on the ground, Hendricks also serves as the agency’s logistics section chief for its Emergency Operations Center and is active in the Business Outreach Committee, a consortium of Bay Area transit and transportation agencies working together to assist Disadvantaged Business Enterprises and Small Business Enterprises by providing training and technical assistance.
His notable achievements include overhauling SMART’s procurement processes and procedures resulting in SMART’s Procurement Department becoming a nationally recognized and award-winning procurement department and recently leading SMART Procurement through the agency’s first Federal Transit Administration Triennial review and audit with no findings.
Hendricks’ commitment goes beyond his day-to-day with SMART, as he has also continued to focus on advancing his education and career development by attaining Certified Public Procurement Officer and Certified Professional Public Buyer national certifications. He also is an active member of the California Association of Public Procurement Officials and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). Hendricks has just recently graduated from the APTA Emerging Leaders Program.
What is an accomplishment you would like to work towards in your career?
Throughout my career, I have had many influential leaders and colleagues who have inspired me and helped guide me along the way. Their guidance has been instrumental in how I’ve developed as a leader and grown into the person I am today. One goal that I have as I continue to progress in my transit leadership career is to become one of those influential leaders for others and pay the knowledge, experience and guidance forward.
Best advice/tip/best practice to share from your area of expertise?
The best advice that I can give to others is to never stop learning and challenging yourself. Be curious, be inquisitive and continue to challenge the norm. Continuous education has been instrumental in my success to-date and has helped me become a subject matter expert in my field and continue to drive innovation at my agency and within my community.
Accomplishment you’re most proud of and why?
An accomplishment that I am most proud of is graduating from the APTA Emerging Leaders Program with the class of 2024. Collaborating with other senior transit professionals (public and private) in the U.S. who are excelling in their fields and driven to improve the U.S. public transportation system was so energizing and inspiring. This program challenged our way of thinking, put us out of our comfort zones, developed our leadership skills, provided local and national mentorship and helped us build our professional network.
During this program, the emerging leaders formed small teams to conduct a research project that addressed a key issue currently facing the public transportation industry. Serving as the project lead for our team, our Capstone Project, “Strategies to Better Serve Customers with Vision Impairments”, focused on how transit agencies currently design, fund, train and operate service and provided recommendations for improving service delivery and rider experience for passengers with disabilities, particularly those with vision impairments.
Listening to riders with vision impairments share their experiences navigating public transportation and obtaining feedback from transit agencies nationwide on current practices was an impactful experience and it was clear more work needed to be done in this area. Presenting and sharing our findings at a national level with the intent of changing the way public transportation agencies think, plan and deliver service to our customers is something I am very proud of.
About the Author
Eman Abu-Khaled
Associate Editor
Eman Abu-Khaled is a former associate editor with Mass Transit magazine.