The Lextran Board of Directors approved the appointment of Carrie Butler as general manager. Butler is an employee of Transdev (formerly Veolia Transportation), and replaces Rocky Burke, who resigned to take a similar position in Sarasota, Florida. Brandon Thomas was selected as the assistant general manager.
Butler’s public transit experience ranges from day-to-day management, service planning, intelligent transportation systems, and long term regional planning. She spent eight years at the Transit Authority of River City in Louisville, Kentucky, where she served as director of planning and oversaw service planning, on-street infrastructure, long range planning and other capital projects for the authority, including preliminary plans for a New Starts light rail project. She also worked as a Senior Planner at TranSystems and provided transit services for numerous transit agencies across the country. Early in her career she completed internships at Star Metro in Tallahassee and Miami-Dade transit in Miami, Florida. In addition, Butler founded Civic+Connect in 2014, offering consulting services for public transportation focusing on customer and community engagement.
Butler received a Master’s of Science in Urban and Regional Planning from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Bellarmine University. She is a member of the American Public Transit Association (APTA), and was recognized by Mass Transit magazine as one of the top “40 Under 40” transit professionals in 2009.
Brandon Thomas began his tenure at Lextran in January 2014 when he was hired as the Senior Planner. Prior to his time at Lextran, he worked in Texas as the General Manager of the Arlington Trolley and Director of Sales and Marketing at the Waco Transit System. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Specialist from Baylor University.
