Katie Hill is one of the founders of Commuter Advertising, a company that plays relevant location-based audio and text-scrolling advertising messages that play on the inside of public transit vehicles, splitting the revenue with the transit agency.
Hill has been directly responsible for raising millions of dollars to drive Commuter Advertising's rapid growth. Additionally, Hill developed proprietary mapping sales software systems that align Commuter Advertising's inventory with transit data allowing the sales team's to seamlessly sell location-based advertising messages.
Hill's accomplishment's include being a Venture Forum presenter at Paley Center for Media NYC, 2011 Soin Award for Innovation, 2010 University of Dayton Business Plan Competition First Place Winner, 2009 Early Career Achievement Award from the College of Business at Illinois State University, 2008 DePaul New Venture Grand Prize Winner and City of Chicago Treasurer's Business Plan Competition Top-Ten Finalist.
Hill is an active member of the American Public Transit Association's marketing and technology committees and has been a speaker at the APTA technology conferences and is recognized as a technology advertising expert by her peers.
Transit Partners
"My favorite part of my job is writing checks to our transit partners. This act is the culmination of a powerful collaboration between our sales team, our operations team and our transit partners. It’s rewarding to see our media program come full-circle and know we get to be part of providing transit in our communities.
"The Greater Dayton RTA gave us our first contract which was a critical milestone. CUMTD, KCATA and TARTA followed within that year. These transit systems gave us a chance very early on, without them Commuter Advertising might still be just an idea on paper. Today we work in seven markets and reach more than 100 million rides a year; we’ve created more than 20 jobs and have an extremely talented team that helps us continue to grow.
The Transit Community
"I love working in the public transit industry because the people are the best. I love getting to know and learn from transit professionals at all levels who are impacting both local and global communities in big ways. I’m always inspired by the amount of planning, coordination, foresight and talent that is required in the transit industry.
"I would like to see continued and growing support for transit in the U.S. Mass transit is the future, the benefits are impossible to ignore; it’s exciting to be part of the long-term solution!
Outside the Office
"I’m passionate about my 8-month old daughter, Elaine. She’s so happy and fun! She’s always making Russ and me laugh. I’m also working on an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and I’m looking forward to graduating this March."
