People on the Move: August 2024

ALBANY, NY—Carm Basile, chief executive officer of the Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA), is to retire at the end of 2024. Basile began his career at CDTA as a transportation planner in 1981. Over the next 43 years, he was promoted several times, and, in October 2009, was named CEO. He is only the sixth CEO in the agency’s 54-year history. With ridership hitting all-time lows during the pandemic, Basile worked over the last four years to add services and fine-tune the system to bring ridership back to 110 percent of pre-pandemic levels. Under his leadership, CDTA introduced three BRT lines—the only system in upstate New York to operate BRT service. Basile also introduced a regional bike share program called CDPHP Cycle! an electric car share program called DRIVE, and a microtransit service called FLEX. These programs have been instrumental in the transformation of CDTA from a bus company to a regional mobility manager. Under Basile’s leadership, CDTA won APTA’s Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award in 2017. Basile is a member of APTA’s Public Transportation CEO Coordinating Council and serves on the Mid-Size Operations, Bus & Paratransit CEOs, and Legislative committees, among others.

PHOENIX, AZ—Jessica Mefford-Miller, CEO of Valley Metro, has been selected as one of the Most Influential Women in Arizona Business for 2024. Mefford-Miller is featured on the cover of the July/August issue of Az Business magazine, profiled inside the magazine, and was honored at the corresponding Most Influential Women in Arizona celebration dinner on Aug. 22. For APTA, Mefford-Miller is a member of the Public Transportation CEO Coordinating Council and serves on the Bus & Paratransit CEOs, Rail Transit CEOs, Mid-Size Operations, and Legislative committees, among others.

MISSISSAUGA, ON, CANADA—TripSpark Technologies announces the appointment of Matt Behmer as general manager. Behmer brings a wealth of transit experience to TripSpark after 19 years of operational leadership at sister companies Trapeze Group and Vontas. He succeeds former general manager Rob DeSanti, who was promoted internally within the Modaxo family of companies.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN—Carol Ketcherside is the new director of administration at Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution). Prior to coming to Mpact, Ketcherside was deputy director for service planning and scheduling at Valley Metro. Previous roles at that agency include oversight of accessible transit services, capital planning, environmental planning, capital development, the public art program, HR, procurement, IT, and risk management. Ketcherside also has worked in various capacities with the Topeka Metropolitan Transit Authority and VIA Metropolitan Transit. She is a member of WTS International and is the 2009 WTS Phoenix Chapter Woman of the Year.

ATLANTA, GA—The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) has named attorney Steven Parker as its new assistant general manager of external affairs, responsible for directing and overseeing federal, state, and local government affairs, community engagement, marketing, sales, and communications. Most recently, Parker was chief innovation officer for TSA. Before that, he served as deputy state director for Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), where he developed and implemented the senator’s outreach strategy to Georgia’s local, state, and federal elected officials, and business, community, and religious constituencies.

OCEANSIDE, CA—The North County Transit District (NCTD) has hired Lilia Montoya as chief operations officer of bus, responsible for the operations, oversight, and maintenance of the agency’s bus, ADA paratransit, and specialized transportation services. She will also serve as a strategic advisor to the chief executive officer, bringing more than 20 years of experience in transit operations, safety, regulatory compliance, employee engagement, and administration. Montoya most recently served as deputy chief executive officer for Long Beach Transit. Before that, she was deputy chief operations officer for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

BOSTON, MA—The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) congratulates Katie Kalugin, operations planning, scheduling, & strategy deputy director of administration, in receiving the 2024 Claire Barrett Member of the Year Award from the Women in Transportation Seminar (WTS). Award selection is based on a commitment to the goals and growth of WTS, promoting the reputation of WTS within the transportation industry, and efforts by the award’s nominee to revitalize or expand the chapter or any of its functions. Kalugin is the winner of both the international and Boston chapter versions of the award.

NASHVILLE, TN—WeGo Public Transit has named Debbie Frank as deputy CEO for growth and development. Frank comes from the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), where she was director of transit-oriented development. Since 2016, she has managed the completion of four transit-oriented developments for MARTA, creating 1,200 apartment units and 150,000 square feet of office/retail space. Prior to joining MARTA, she served as managing partner of Urban Blueprint, a real estate development and consulting firm in Nashville.

DALLAS, TX—Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has announced Jamie Adelman as its new chief financial officer. Adelman will lead the agency’s accounting, financial reporting, budget, treasury, fare collections and fare payment systems, debt management, investment management, risk management, and technology functions. Adelman came to DART in December of 2023 with nearly 20 years of financial leadership experience. She joined the agency from the Sacramento Regional Transit District, where she most recently served as vice president of procurement, real estate, and special projects.

ATLANTA, GA—Kwadwo Atta, PMP, has joined HDR as southeast transit leader, to be based in the firm’s Atlanta office. He will support the development and delivery of multidisciplinary transit programs with a focus in Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. Atta has more than two decades of public- and private-sector experience in rail, streetcar, and BRT project planning, design, program management, and construction management. Before HDR, he worked as the city of Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer, shaping and executing the city’s infrastructure strategy. His previous consulting work included development and delivery of such programs as Atlanta’s first BRT and streetcar systems and state of good repair program. Atta began his civil engineering career in the U.K., where he worked on the Network Rail Asset Management program and the Channel Tunnel (now HS1) Rail Link Contract 342. Atta is a graduate of the Leadership APTA Class of 2018.