Meet the APTA Staff: Jillian Kinder

Legislative Representative
Government Affairs and Advocacy Department

Q: What do you do at APTA and how does the work support public transit?

A: My responsibilities include supporting the Intergovernmental Issues Legislative Subcommittee, the Business Member Legislative Subcommittee, and the overarching Legislative Committee. I also coordinate APTA’s Advocacy Afternoon and other fly-in events. In addition, the team I’m on tracks legislation and Administration actions pertinent to our industry.

The Government Affairs and Advocacy department strengthens APTA’s profile as the national voice for public transportation and aggressively advocates for sustained, increased federal investment by showcasing industry successes and advancing thought leadership.

Q: How do you work with APTA members?

A: I am in regular contact with members through the Legislative Committee and its subcommittees, and any member interested in joining APTA’s advocacy efforts, no matter how big or small, can come to me. I also handle issues related to mobility, accessibility, autonomous vehicles, and emerging technologies, frequently engaging with members interested in those areas.

Q: How did your professional journey bring you to APTA?

A: I have a bit of an unconventional government affairs background. I have a degree in Industrial Engineering from West Virginia University and worked as a transportation planner/traffic engineer in the Northern Virginia and Washington, DC, area for the first few years of my career. While at WVU, I served as a summer engineering fellow for Rep. David B. McKinley (R-WV) and then worked in his district office while I finished my degree. I knew I wanted to come back to government at some point, so I interviewed at APTA because it was the perfect intersection of my interests and experience.

Q: How did your work as a transportation planner/traffic engineer intersect with public transportation?

A: The public-sector projects that I worked on had direct ties to public transportation (BRT planning, commuter assistance programs, multimodal and safety analyses, etc.). The private-sector projects looked at things such as access to public transportation in evaluating network impacts.

Q: What interests you most about public transportation?

A: How people move across neighborhoods, cities, and countries. I traveled a lot with my parents as a kid, and my dad always included me in route planning. I suffered at the hands of chicken-scratch handwriting in the margins of printed MapQuest directions, but my passion started when we would map directions manually in New York City or Washington, DC, using public transportation. I knew I wanted to live in a city after college and DC has been perfect for me, particularly for its access to public transportation and walkability.

Q: Are you involved in any community or professional organizations?

A: I’m a member of WTS-DC as well as Young Professionals in Transportation-DC. I also serve as President of the West Virginia State Society, a nonprofit under the National Conference of State Societies. The WVSS is dedicated to bringing together all those that call themselves West Virginians in the DC area, whether by birth, by education, or by choice at any time. I love meeting and working with fellow West Virginians here in DC.

Q: Can you tell us something about yourself that might surprise us?

A: I’m an avid concert-goer. Last year, I went to 25 concerts across six states. A highlight from last year includes a back-to-back feature at MetLife Stadium of My Chemical Romance and the Jonas Brothers, where I took Amtrak to and from New Jersey and then NJ Transit to and from the stadium. This year, I’m looking forward to seeing my favorite band, Bleachers, at least five times across a handful of states with friends I’ve made at their shows over the years.