Preliminary Program

Saturday January 26

Rail Standards Policy & Planning Committee Meeting

Rail Transit CEOs Subcommittee Meeting

CEOs Buffet Luncheon

Bus & Paratransit CEOs Committee Meeting

Registration

Welcoming Reception

Mix and mingle with CEOs, executives, and guests in a relaxed atmosphere that sets the collegial tone for the seminar.

Sunday January 27

Registration

President’s Breakfast for New CEOs

Begin networking with new colleagues and learn more about resources available for your agency.

Have you started a new position as a public transportation chief executive in the past year? If yes, you are invited to attend this breakfast session centered on your experiences and new responsibilities.

Host: William W. Millar, president, APTA

Facilitator: Jeanne W. Krieg, vice chair – human resources, APTA; vice chair, APTA small operations steering committee; and chief executive officer, Eastern Contra Costa Transit Authority, Antioch, CA

Continental Breakfast

Welcoming General Session

Come hear what’s in store for the week and see what LYNX is doing.

The public transportation industry’s unique CEOs seminar officially begins with the opening general session. Join your colleagues for an overview of the seminar and what’s new in the Orlando area.

APTA TransitVision 2050

Walk through major trends shaping the future – 20, 30, even 50 years ahead.

Make sure you attend this session for an eye-opening summary of demographic, economic, and environmental trends. Join in a stimulating discussion about the CEOs’ roles and framework for the future. You’ll see slides from three APTA webinars:

• “How We Will Live and Move In 2050: Demographic and Social Trends;”
• “How Issues Related to the Physical and Natural Environment Will Affect the Future of Public Transportation;”
• “Energy and the Global Economy: The Transportation Outlook in a Changing World.”

General Session:

Leadership Excellence – Engage the Vision, Organize for Success

Learn more about painting a picture of the future, involving people, and getting them to commit to your organization.

Bring your agency’s vision and innovations to life through your leadership. Come hear a featured speaker from the Disney Institute discuss strategies and processes involved in engaging employees and partners in the vision for the future and the behavior and qualities needed to accomplish it. Included will be:

• Vision – Understand the power of the leader’s story and vision.

• Involvement – Examine how leaders create a work environment that encourages employees to be actively involved in the business.

• Organization – Investigate how a leader can provide accountability while aligning organizational structure and culture for positive change.

• Change – Explore how a leader can utilize a proactive approach to change in order to keep the team “on top of their game.”

Lunch Discussion by System Size

Bring everyone up to speed on your activities.

Say what’s on your mind … talk over any topic, take any position.

This free exchange within small groups organized by transit system size is an update on transit systems’ successes, opportunities, and your input regarding Transit Vision 2050. Take your buffet lunch into your breakout room to join your peers for a lively discussion:

• Small systems, 100 or fewer buses

• Medium systems, 101-500 buses

• Large, 500+ buses and multimodal systems

General Session: Chair and President’s Roundtable

Find out what CEOs and APTA are doing about authorization, security, and the latest rulemaking.

Join us for an update from APTA’s chair and president on authorization, funding, federal regulations, New Starts, Buy America, and more.

Speakers:

Michael S. Townes, chair, APTA; and president/chief executive officer, Hampton Roads Transit, Hampton, VA William W. Millar, president, APTA

Dialogue with the FTA Administrator

Where else can over 100 public transportation executives have a discussion with the top official of the Federal Transit Administration?

Be among the first to hear the Administrator’s ideas on leadership, entrepreneurial government, accountability, and mega-trends that affect transit. Think of the questions you’ve wanted to ask; the door is open for a dialogue.

Speaker:

Administrator James S. Simpson, Federal Transit Administration, Washington, DC

Monday January 28

Continental Breakfast

General Session: Best Practices & New Public Transportation Programs

Explore new ideas that can help your organization achieve and maintain top performance.

This session features presentations by CEOs about successful and innovative initiatives to help you spark new ideas and open new doors.

General Session: Managing Risk in Contracting

Learn how successful partnerships can work.

Managing risk is a major issue for both the public and private sectors of the public transportation industry. But it is an area where the sectors can work cooperatively so that both sides benefit and project costs can be best managed. This session will bring together public – and private – sector members to discuss how they worked together to manage risk in their contracts – what they expected of each other, how they managed the relationship, how changes in the project over time were accommodated, and lessons learned.

Lunch on Your Ow

General Session: Leadership –The Next Generation

Will new employees find transportation an appealing and challenging career option?

Transit properties are adopting innovative practices to attract new employees in management and operations, but there remains a critical need in the industry. Is it pay or flexibility that younger employees want most? Where are they coming from … colleges and tech schools? How will their talents develop and mature into skills?

Come hear the results of the 2007 Leadership APTA study that has far-reaching benefits for transit.

General Session: CEO Compensation – Moving UP

Find out the latest on base salary + defined and deferred plans.

Many executives have responded to APTA’s “2007 Transit CEOs Compensation Survey” regarding contract renewals; benefits; other forms of remuneration, such as defined benefit plans, accelerated compensation, deferred compensation and defined contributions; spousal survivor benefits; housing/living allowances; expense accounts; and reporting. Survey findings will be shared with CEOs and the information stays in this room.

General Session: Trends in Labor Relations

Attend this session to hear from industry consultants and heads of transit systems about labor activities in the past year. Receive your annual management reports on costs and settlements.

Presenters: Gregory S. Dash, president, John A. Dash & Associates, Havertown, PA

Thomas P. Hock, Esq., principal, Professional Transit Management Ltd. Cincinnati, OH

Beth McCormick, general manager-transit, Orange County Transportation Authority, Orange, CA

Terry Garcia Crews, general manager, Lexington Transit Authority, Lexington, KY

Tuesday January 29

Continental Breakfast

General Session: Best Practices & New Public Transportation Programs

Explore new ideas that can help your organization achieve and maintain top performance.

This session features presentations by CEOs about successful and innovative initiatives to help you spark new ideas and open new doors.

Revitalizing a Mature Transit System

Presenter:

Deborah C. Linehan, general manager & secretary of the board, Gold Coast Transit, Oxnard, CA

Greater Cleveland RTA’s Success with the Introduction of Downtown Trolleys

Trolleys are back in Cleveland and you can ride for free with a smile, with sponsorships from the Convention & Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland, The Corner Alley, and 4th Street Bar & Grill. Ridership has quadrupled since the first year. Come hear how it all happened.

Presenter:

How to Get Transit on the Radar Screen:

Funding Lessons from Connecticut

Find out how one system got $9 million in new state operating funding for this year by partnering with foundations to develop studies that formed the basis of advocacy; determining optimal funding levels; forming an effective coalition; competing with many state issues outside of transit; and working with AARP.

Presenter:

Ronald J. Kilcoyne, chief executive officer, Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority, Bridgeport, CT

Concurrent Session: Newer CEOs Media Relations – You Said What?

Attend this session to gain new insights on day-to-day media relations and crisis management.

This is a ‘need to know’ session for newer CEOs and those who have joined larger properties that are media favorites. Come gain a better understanding of how news directors view stories about transit; crisis management as it relates to reporters and editors; and how best to support your initiatives with media outreach/non-paid media.

Concurrent Session: Veteran CEOs After 30+ Years … Your Next Life!

Discover how others went about seeking the unknown and pursuing their passions; and review the financial planning needed to get “out there” in your retirement.

Former GMs and CEOs will tell their unique stories to help define what retirement can mean to you. What options are available? What do you want to explore and do with the rest of your life? What can you expect about the adjustments, stress, and emotional preparedness needed? Learn more about financial planning options at this stage of life from a representative of the Financial Planning Association.

Lunch on your own

Technical Tour: New LYNX Operations Center

Visit the new LYNX Operation Center (LOC), LYNX’s largest operating facility which opened in August, 2007. See the 77,000 sq. ft. maintenance building with 24 bays for repairing and maintaining the 290-bus fleet. The complex houses facilities maintenance, the Road Ranger operation, a bus wash building, and parking space for 200 buses and 227 employee vehicles. You’ll tour the administration building – over 42,000 sq. ft. of office space for human resources, risk management, safety and security, customer service, operator training, the money room/vaulting operation, and bus operations.

Please sign up on site at the LYNX host desk in the APTA registration room.

Farewell Dinner

You’re invited to enjoy the company of old and new friends at dinner in the hotel.