Governance

Maria Tyne

President

Gannett Fleming

Vice President, Transit and Rail

Website

Kristen Taylor

Vice President

City of Surprise - Transportation

Business Services Administrator

Nate Peterson

Treasurer

MV Transportation

General Manager

Website

Chris Bridges

Past President

City of Goodyear

Deputy Director of Engineering - Transportation

Website

Jenny Bixby

AECOM

Vice President, Transportation Business Development (AZ, NV)

Website

Rhett Crowninshield

City of Tucson

Transit Administrator

Website

Heather Dalmolin

Mountain Line

CEO and General Manager

Website

Vinny Gallegos

Central Yavapai MPO

Executive Director

Website

Katrina Heineking

Transdev

Senior VP - West

Website

Irene Higgs

Sun Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization (SCMPO)

Director

Website

Steve Hogan

WSP

Vice President

Website

Bernadette Kniffin

Apache Transit

Transit Director

Website

Shelly Kreger

Yuma County Intergovernmental Public Transportation Authority (YCIPTA)

Transit Director

Website

Kevin Mansfield

Schetky Bus & Van Sales

Sales Manager

Website

Lynn McLean

McLean Consulting

CEO

Jessica Mefford-Miller

Valley Metro

CEO

Website

Tod Morris

NACOG

Sr. Mobility Management Planner

Website

Tina Munoz

Arizona Department of Transportation

Transit Group Manager

Website

Jesús Sapien

City of Phoenix

Public Transit Director

Website

Marc Soronson

HDR

Vice President

Website

Ed Zuercher

Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG)

Executive Director

Website

Becky Miller

AzTA Executive Director

(602) 550-3265
Email

Cyndy Lozano

Executive Assistant

(480) 361-5101
Email

John Anderson

Biography

John served on the AzTA Board from 1990 to 2002 in officer positions of Secretary/Treasurer, Vice President and President, and as AzTA’s Executive Director from 2002-2010. New to transit, he became responsible for Transit operations and planning from 1990 to 1999 for the City of Chandler and served on the Valley Metro Management team representing the City of Chandler during that same period. John’s major accomplishments during tenure as AzTA’s Executive Director were overseeing quadrupling of growth to nearly 400 member organizations, tripling of the operating budget, and growing Association reserves from $10,000 to $125,000. Prior to joining the city of Chandler, John held various management positions in the Health Care industry and the United States Military, retiring from the USAF in 1978 as a Major. 

John passed away on September 26, 2016.

William Budlong

Biography

Bill’s Transit career began in 1978 in Detroit at the regional transit authority known as SEMTA, serving as the Asst Area Mgr for Small Bus Operations. Over the next 33 years, he served as:

• Transportation Manager for a nonprofit agency in St. Petersburg, Florida
• Transportation Director, City of Glendale, for transit and the Glendale Airport
• Executive Director, Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA) in California
• General Manager, Van Tran in Tucson
• General Manager, Valu-Trans in Phoenix
• General Manager, Sun City Transit
• Partner in forming a new transit contracting company called Banner7 LLC

At AVTA, Bill introduced double-deck buses for Commuter Services resulting in 80% to 100% fare box recovery, and built a 200 bus, $25 million transit facility which opened debt free. In three different years, AzTA gave the Outstanding Transit System Award to systems he managed, twice for Glendale Transit and once for Van Tran in Tucson. In the mid-80’s several cities met to form AzTA of which Bill was one of the founders and served as its President for the initial two years.

Ken Driggs

Biography

Ken Driggs has served in a variety of positions in public service in Arizona and California. Ken earned his Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Brigham Young University. Ken served as Executive Director of the Regional Public Transportation Authority/Valley Metro from 1989-2005, and as its Chief Financial Officer/Deputy Executive Director, RPTA from 1986-1989. Prior to that, he held positions as the Assistant to the Director/Assistant Director, League of Arizona Cities and Towns, assigned to work as the MAG Staff Coordinator from 1968-86 and concurrently as the Executive Director of the Central Arizona Health Systems Agency, Phoenix, Arizona from 1981-1985. Since his retirement from Valley Metro, he has developed a pilot online learning program for Brigham Young University-Idaho for the Mesa, Arizona area, served as the full-time church mission assignment with his wife Kerry in the Internship Office at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho, and as a Senior Transportation Planner, TranSystems Corporation, Phoenix, Arizona.

Larry Miller

Biography

Larry Miller passed away in January 2023 with more than 36 years of senior management experience in both the public and private sectors. In 2013 Larry retired after 23 years in the private sector where he worked on transit projects around the world including serving as Interim CEO for the LA-Pasadena Blue Line Construction Authority. He was the first Executive Director/CEO of the Regional Public Transportation Authority (RPTA) in Phoenix from 1986 - 1989. From 1979 - 1985 he was Chief Executive Officer of BC Transit in Vancouver, BC.

Larry had a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree in Urban Geography and Political Science from Brock University and a Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Queens University in Canada.

Richard J. Simonetta

Biography

Mr. Simonetta is a transit industry veteran with 43 years of experience, 28 as the CEO of five transit systems, including MARTA in Atlanta, the seventh largest transit system in the U.S. While at MARTA he successfully led the organization in the planning and execution of transit services for the 1996 Summer Olympics, when MARTA transported 25 million passengers in 17 days. 

Mr. Simonetta was the CEO of Valley Metro Rail in Phoenix where he lead the effort to complete a 20-mile, $1.4B light rail line on-time and under budget. He is a former Chairman of the American Public Transportation Association, and President of State Transit Associations in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and Arizona. He is the recipient of several prestigious APTA awards, including Transit Manager of the Year in 1997, Best Overall Transit System, and two-time winner of the Best Hiring and Promotion of Minorities and Women. In 2013, Rick was inducted into the prestigious APTA Hall of Fame. 

He holds a Bachelors Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Regional Planning from Penn State University.

Roger Milroy

Biography

Roger has degrees in construction technology, business management and masters of business administration. He worked for the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) for twenty-eight years in a variety of positions in the engineering, transportation, planning and development departments. Ultimately he became the chief engineer-capital program, responsible to start the capital programs department and plan, design and construct a 1.2B (1980 dollars) program to modernize the railroads facilities. In 1987 he retired from the LIRR, moved to Arizona and joined Gannett Fleming.

During his twenty-two plus years at Gannett Fleming, he participated in the Valtrans rail project as well as most other Arizona rail technical studies. Additionally he was project manager for the Federal Transit Administration Project management oversight consultant program. Roger was the deputy project manager for the Arizona Metro light rail system, responsible for facilities. He served on the boards of directors for the Friends of Transit, Arizona Transit Association, Southwest Rail Corridor Coalition and Arizona Chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA) and became the 1998 chapter president. Roger retired from Gannett Fleming in 2008.

Roger Milroy passed away in 2020.

Jim Dickey

Biography

Jim’s two+ decades of public transportation experience in Arizona include long tenure as a Board member of AzTA, including one term as President. In 1979 he entered private-sector school bus management in Missouri, including roles in safety, bus services management, regional management and supervision, and business development with Mayflower. While at Mayflower, Jim became the first “contract” manager of transit services during the Denver RTD privatization program in 1989. He then transferred to Phoenix to start-up contracted service for the city of Phoenix and joined Valley Metro/RPTA in 1994.

While at Valley Metro, Jim became Deputy Executive Director of Operations and Planning, serving there until 2005, during the growth of bus and dial-a-ride services and the emergence of light rail with the approval of Maricopa County Proposition 400. Jim then joined ADOT as their first director of the Public Transportation Division.

After retiring from ADOT, Jim became AzTA’s Executive Director in 2010, serving until retirement in May 2015. His passion and leadership in AzTA helped create an AzTA public / private membership of over 400 strong. During Jim’s tenure, the AzTA Conference and the ADOT Transit Conference were successfully combined into the Joint AzTA/ADOT Statewide Transit Conference. Because of his vision and direction, this conference has grown exponentially over the last decade and will continue to grow. We had nearly 400 people attend the conference in 2019!

Jean Ann Fisher

Biography

Jean Ann’s first 20 years of working experience started in Kansas where she was in the business and retail field, and then worked for a large manufacturing company as secretary for the Engineering department. Originally from Tucson, Jean Ann returned in the mid 1980’s and started her career in transit, as the first employee of Van Tran. It was an exciting and challenging time as she was instrumental in the establishment of paratransit service for the city of Tucson from the bottom up. This great learning experience gave her a crash-course to the many complex facets of transit. Jean Ann worked in paratransit until she became the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Compliance Coordinator for the City of Tucson. Over her 45 – year career Jean Ann had many varied accomplishments.

• Hosted a cable television show in Hutchinson, Kansas that covered events in the community.
• Served as first President of the Park Wise Board for the City of Tucson’s parking program.
• Served as President of Tucson’s Women’s Transportation Seminar.
• Served on Pima Association of Governments Board, which has the responsibility of selecting transit projects in Arizona.
• Transit Services Coordinator for the City of Tucson. Advanced transportation projects in Tucson through the securing of federal funding for vehicles and progressive transit projects.
• Communications representative for the Citizens Transportation Advisory Board. Served the board as advisor concerning transit issues that affected Tucson.
• Board member for Arizona Easter Seals
• Co-Host for the Chamber of Commerce’s Good Morning Tucson. This live show is held monthly and covers issues the affect Tucson, which often include transit issues. This large gathering brings the people of Tucson together with state leaders such as the State Senators, Governor’s, State Representatives the Mayor of Tucson, as well as those from surrounding cities.
• Served on the AzTA Board as the representative for the City of Tucson. She had the honor to serve as President.

Bryan Jungwirth

Biography

Bryan is a two-time past President of AzTA (1994 and 2010) and retired after a 26 year career (1987-2013) working for Valley Metro/RPTA in numerous capacities. He was Valley Metro’s designated public lobbyist for state and federal legislative issues for 15 years and most notably served as its Chief of Staff and Acting Executive Director. He began his transit career working for VPSI (now V-Ride) in Detroit and Memphis, and started the Valley’s regional vanpool program. From there he held Valley Metro leadership positions in operations, marketing, finance and administration, planning, and government relations.

Bryan then served the Virginia Railway Express as its Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations and now works for Keolis Transit America as its VP of Business Development.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing from Michigan State University, and has completed graduate studies in Business Administration at the University of Memphis and is a Certified Public Manager from Arizona State University’s Advanced Public Executive Program.

Alan Wulkan

Biography

Alan Wulkan is the founder and President of The Wulkan Group. He has been involved with the development and management of new start rail, bus rapid transit, and automated guide way projects and is nationally recognized for his work in Washington, D.C. on legislative issues affecting the transit industry. Alan was appointed to the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission Blue Ribbon Panel of Transportation Experts.

Mr. Wulkan’s experience includes senior management positions in the private transportation industry as well as serving as Executive Director of the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Austin, Texas and Director of Intergovernmental Administration for the Metro Dade Transportation Administration in Miami, Florida.

Alan was an active board member of the Arizona Transit Association for over 30 years. His knowledge and strong involvement in transit issues have been a true asset to our organization. He has helped us learn and grow as an organization. He has worked to ensure that AzTA has a good grasp of all sides of issues pertaining to transit and has been an outstanding advocate for our organization.