One word to describe yourself: Pragmatic
Alma Mater: Norfolk State University; West Virginia University
Fast fact about yourself: My guilty pleasure is binge watching Golden Girls while eating banana pudding.
What’s your best experience on transit and what made it memorable? Taking the subway to a Yankees versus Red Sox baseball game. The energy on the train to and from the game was electrifying.
Alexis Majied has distinguished herself as a professional who has helped shape vision, drive innovation, enhance collaboration and promote accountability and community involvement. Majied began her career at Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) in 2007, where she engaged the workforce by launching an employee newsletter, hosting CEO roundtables, planning president’s luncheons and forming an employee activity committee. She led the children’s safety campaign for The Tide, Virginia’s first light-rail system. After leaving HRT in 2012, Majied returned in 2022 as CCO, bringing a renewed vision for the team.
In her first 24 months as CCO, Majied, with help from her team, drove innovation by launching a monthly e-newsletter, reintroducing a quarterly, printed newsletter, starting a blog and developing an annual report. She also created a crisis communications plan and conducted the agency’s first employee survey. Majied and her team organized three major events: Community Resource Fairs, Transit Advocacy Day and the State of Transit: Transit Means Business event, each aimed at enhancing community engagement and highlighting the importance of public transportation.
Majied fostered collaboration by partnering with the Norfolk Tides baseball team and the city of Norfolk, Va., to implement the “Ride The Tide to The Tides” initiative, which increased light-rail ridership by 20 percent and reduced stadium congestion.
Majied is described as passionate about community involvement. She has been a board member for Girls on the Run and is a troop leader for the Girl Scouts of the USA. She is also involved in professional organizations, including the Women’s Transportation Seminar, Public Relations Society of America and Conference of Minority Transportation Officials.
Is there a specific experience that led you to where you are today?
In 2012, the agency hired a new president/CEO. In my role managing internal communications, I was responsible for showing him around and introducing him to staff. During that time we spent together, we discussed the past, present and what I envisioned could be the future of the marketing communications department.
About six months later, I left the organization to pursue another opportunity. When I told him the news, he said, “Go out and get more experience and then come back.” Ten years later, I learned the chief communications officer position had been posted and I knew almost instantly that there was no one more perfect for the job than me. I submitted my application and the rest is history.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Transportation is one of the social determinants of health or factors that affect an individual’s health and quality of life outcomes. So, knowing that I’ve played a role in helping people get to work, school, shopping and entertainment destinations, which could, in turn, impact someone’s quality of life, is rewarding to me. Also rewarding to me is leading, motivating and inspiring those around me.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
Convincing people in a car-centric culture to leave their vehicles at home and give transit a try can be a challenge at times but we have a strong team that is up for the task. So far, we’ve produced some great results but there is still work to be done.
Accomplishment you’re most proud of and why?
I’m especially proud of our Transit Advocacy Day and State of Transit events. These were two regional events that made the case for why transit needs greater and sustainable funding by demonstrating its impact on business and workforce development and showcasing customer needs through first-hand experience. These thoughtfully curated events were well-received by business and community leaders, as well as elected officials. I am looking forward to our advocacy efforts having a long-lasting impact on our organization and region as a whole.
What is an accomplishment you would like to work towards in your career?
I would like to make a progressively greater impact on transit-dependent populations. Our community resource fairs have been instrumental in getting information on employment, housing, food and education to customers but I am looking forward to, in collaboration with our team, developing innovative ways to take that a step further. I also look forward to the day when our team can develop and execute a marketing communications plan to promote the extension of our light-rail starter line. The system is 13 years old and it is time to expand it.
Best advice/tip/best practice to share from your area of expertise?
Focus less on the things you cannot control and concentrate more on the things you can control. If you focus on what you can’t control, it can be defeating and demoralizing. Conversely, focusing on the things you can control is empowering and facilitates greater impact. This applies to every area of life and it serves as my personal mantra.
Mischa Wanek-Libman | Group Editorial Director
Mischa Wanek-Libman is director of communications with Transdev North America. She has more than 20 years of experience working in the transportation industry covering construction projects, engineering challenges, transit and rail operations and best practices.
Wanek-Libman has held top editorial positions at freight rail and public transportation business-to-business publications including as editor-in-chief and editorial director of Mass Transit from 2018-2024. She has been recognized for editorial excellence through her individual work, as well as for collaborative content.
She is an active member of the American Public Transportation Association's Marketing and Communications Committee and served 14 years as a Board Observer on the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) Board of Directors.
She is a graduate of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communication.
