CUTA Membership Elects New Executive and Board

Members of the Canadian Urban Transit Association elected the association's officers and directors for 2011-12 at its Annual General Meeting in Regina, Saskatchewan on June 1, 2011.

Changes to the executive committee include the election of John King, city of Lethbridge as chair; Bob Paddon, TransLink (Vancouver) first vice chair; Stéphane Forget, Société de transport de Montréal, vice chair — communications and public affairs; Donna Shepherd, Burlington Transit, vice chair — small systems; and, Paul Smith, vice chair — business members, New Flyer Industries, vice chair — business members. Charles Stolte, Edmonton Transit, becomes immediate past chair.

Executive committee members whose positions remain unchanged are: Gary McNeil, Metrolinx (Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area) vice chair — technical services; councillor Bev Dubois, city of Saskatoon, vice chair — municipal councils; Brian Leck, Toronto Transit Commission, honourary counsel; Joël Gauthier, Agence Métropolitaine de Transport Montréal, vice chair — government agencies; Suzanne Connor, Brampton Transit, vice chair — education and human resources development; Penny Williams, Transit Windsor, vice chair — Finance; and, Nadine Bernard, Nova Bus, vice chair — Business Members.

In his acceptance speech, incoming chair John King likened the importance of Transit Vision 2040 implementation with the values of the Saskatchewan Roughriders — pride, passion and community, all of which will be required to achieve the objectives of the Vision. All CUTA members were challenged to commit to doing their part in this implementation process.

New directors elected to the board for the first time or appointed since the last Annual General Meeting are Daniel Bergeron, Agence métropolitaine de transport (Montréal); Bill Frost (Toronto Transit Commission); Renée Lafrenière, Société de transport de l’Outaouais; Ron Mullins, Kings Transit; Stéphane Forget, Société de transport de Montréal; Kevin Joll, Red Deer Transit; and, Yves Wininger, Transdev Canada.

Special thanks are extended to outgoing vice chair – business members Judi Cohen and departing immediate past chair Steve New, both of whom made significant contributions to CUTA in recent years, as well as to retiring directors Wes Brodhead, Ted Dowling, Catherine Higgens, Antoine Robitaille, Scott Thompson, and Robert Olivier.

Also serving on the executive committee is CUTA president and CEO, Michael Roschlau.

For the full list of executive committee and board members, visit: http://www.cutaactu.ca/en/aboutus/board_of_directors.asp