Meet the APTA Staff: Jennelise Hafen
4/15/2025
Senior Program Manager–Mobility, Access, State & Local Affairs
Policy Department
Q: What are your primary responsibilities at APTA, and those of your department?
A: I work in the Policy Department, so I help people understand trends and opportunities regarding mobility and accessibility and facilitate conversations to find solutions to the issues that agencies have in common.
I am very fortunate to work with folks in the industry who actively look at ways to improve and expand -public transportation for everyone. Playing a role in those positive changes makes my workdays exciting and well worth it.
Q: How do the initiatives and programs you work on contribute to APTA’s overall goals?
A: I facilitate planning of the yearly Capital Projects session at the APTA Rail Conference. This year I am working with the APTA High-Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail Committee (HS&IPR) to plan the High-Speed Rail Seminar, and I assist in planning the biannual Transit Ballot Initiatives Workshop.
The members of the Capital -Projects and HS&IPR committees really go all out in planning the workshops to highlight and help folks understand different project delivery methods and innovative high-speed rail projects and to share the exciting projects our members work on day in and day out.
Q: To what extent do you have direct contact with APTA members?
A: I love seeing APTA members in real life! I have been able to work at the Mobility, Rail, and TRANSform conferences and the Transit Ballot Initiative Workshop, in addition to helping at a few others. Getting to see folks in real life that I know from virtual meetings, emails, and APTAconnect correspondence is always exciting.
APTA members really are like celebrities to me. I am in awe of every single member and the work they do. They are so passionate, so innovative, and make incremental changes daily to make the world a better place. If you see me running around at a conference or out and about in life, please say hello!
Q: How did you come to be at APTA? Please describe your professional background.
A: I am so fortunate that I found APTA. I undertook graduate work in City Planning, but my path to APTA took a detour through a public library. I ran a library in Southern California prior to my move to Washington, DC. My work there was centered around creating community through connecting folks and making sure information and resources were accessible and available.
I moved to DC in 2024 and took that move as an opportunity to set a new career path that aligned with my dedication to public service. I have been at APTA for approximately a year, and I couldn’t have imagined how great a fit this would be for me.
Q: Have you worked in or around public transportation besides APTA?
A: I drove 40-foot buses for the student transportation department at UC Santa Cruz as my college work-study job. Although not work, as such, when I was 15, My 10th grade English teacher let me organize a field trip taking a city bus to the public library. Thirty+ teens showed up at the bus stop and at the library that day!
Q: What interests you most about public transportation?
A: Community, community, community! I love the idea of knowing your bus driver by only a nod or riding the train with the same folks (you never speak to) every day. It is also a necessary public service. We need fewer cars on the road and more people moving through their communities and recognizing we are part of something larger than ourselves. I have always opted to use public transportation whenever possible.
Q: Could you tell us something about yourself that might surprise us?
A: I have been to four NCAA Final Four championships. I mostly go for snacks, but I do love the energy of live sports, and no one celebrates like a college basketball fan. I have been to 38 states in the U.S. Almost half of the remaining 12 begin with the letter M. My middle name is Yolanda.
I have a few books I always like to recommend: Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer; The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander; The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein; Exile and Pride by Eli Clare; and The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs.