Ryan J. Adams, CPA
Vice President, Strategy & Corporate Development
Keolis Transit America
- Alma Mater: Indiana University
- Fun Fact: He and his brother-in-law competed in BBQ competitions and Adams’ brisket placed in the top 10 in Loveland Colorado’s 2011 competition
- Favorite Book: “A Prayer for Owen Meany” by John Irving
- Favorite TV Show: “Sopranos”
- Favorite Movie: “The Social Network”
- Favorite Hobbies: Surfing and cooking
When asked how long he’s been in transit, Ryan Adams will tell people 33 years as his father stopped at the office on the way home from the hospital after he was born and regular dinner-table conversation was often about things such as the importance of reducing deadhead or labor relations.
Adams first started interning in transit at his father’s company TCT Transit Services when he was 15 and completed his college internship at a transportation contractor in Madrid, Spain. He triple majored in finance, accounting, and international business and by age 28 was a certified public accountant (CPA), certified fraud examiner (CFE), certified in financial forensics (CFF) and a certified internal auditor (CIA).
He had experience outside the transit industry, working at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in forensic accounting with an emphasis on Latin American fraud investigations/litigation support and as an internal auditor at Vail Resorts in the Colorado Mountains. He took what he achieved outside of transit and wanted to connect that with his foundation in transit.
Today he is a vice president on Keolis Transit America’s (KTA) executive team and recently pursued and received funding for a major Business Intelligence Initiative (BI) at the company. The initiative resulted in the implementation of data streams from more than two dozen systems and achieves a real-time view to provide operational managers trends in the areas of safety and risk, operations, maintenance and service quality to improve efficiencies at their properties.
At KTA, Adams has developed a site visit campaign designed to identify operational efficiencies; successfully managed a more than $40 million pricing project; and construction and on-going guidance on KTA’s pricing model as part of the company’s growth initiatives.
Adams is also a part of the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Leadership APTA 2015 class.
“I love to build things. Whether it’s designing a new process or a strategy from scratch or improving on an existing one. In my role I have a lot of opportunity to be innovative and entrepreneurial and that keeps me very motivated. I love my job; I think I’m lucky to be doing what I’m doing.”
“The reason I plan to stay in this industry the rest of my career is I think there’s so much potential; there’s nowhere to go but up. I could repeat all the population and infrastructure capacity issues, socioeconomic benefits, but we already know that stuff. What’s exciting is there’s this movement happening out there that is intently focused on the customer and the digital world … there’s a host of new mobility technologies and solutions emerging at a rapid pace and so much potential for us in traditional transit to collaborate with them to really maximize mobility and accessibility.”
“It’s an intense business, especially once you’re getting closer to the operation itself. There’s always something to do; it never really ends. That’s a good thing, otherwise I might get bored.”
“When I moved to southern California, 2-1/2 years ago, I bought a surf board and started taking lessons. I try to get out in the water a couple times a week now. It’s a great way to clear my head and get some exercise.”
