Two new people have joined GoTriangle’s executive team: Melody Hunter-Pillion as chief communications officer and Vinson J. Hines Jr. as interim director of operations.
“GoTriangle is pleased to have Melody, an experienced communications professional, who is well-equipped to help us as we continue our mission to provide accessible transit across the region,” said GoTriangle Vice President Scott Thomas. “We also are fortunate to have our transit operations in the capable hands of Vinson, who has helped lead our operations for many years with our former director.”
New communications chief steps aboard
Hunter-Pillion, who joined GoTriangle in mid-May, is leading the organization’s communications, marketing, public engagement, sustainable travel services and media relations efforts. Her career includes two decades of broadcast journalism, media relations and public affairs experience with expertise in strategic communications for state government, health care and higher education. She moves into a position vacated by Scott Thomas, who assumed the new position of executive vice president.
A native of Laurinburg, N.C., Hunter-Pillion served as communications director in the Office of State Human Resources. She covered news in the Triangle for 11 years at WTVD-ABC11 before directing media relations for Rex Healthcare and communications for Duke University’s Office of Undergraduate Scholars and Fellows. In the academic arena, she served as the associate director of communications and strategy for the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and taught journalism at North Carolina State University.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from NC State and a master’s in liberal studies from Duke and is earning a doctoral degree in public history at NC State, where she is a 2021-22 Global Change Fellow.
Interim chief of operations already up to speed on all things GoTriangle
Hines stepped up to become GoTriangle’s interim chief of operations after Patrick Stephens, the agency’s previous chief of operations, retired in late May. Hines is well acquainted with GoTriangle’s operations, having worked the past four years at the agency as assistant director of transit operations, overseeing daily operations with division managers. He will continue as the agency’s assistant director of transit operations while assuming the interim chief’s duties.
His 28 years of experience in transportation began as an apprentice with the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Public Transportation Division program and includes a decade of overseeing GoTriangle’s paratransit operations and maintaining effective working relationships with the agency’s transit partners. Before his arrival at GoTriangle, he was general manager and special projects manager for MV Transportation Inc., project manager for Laidlaw Transit Services Inc. and transit project coordinator of the Fayetteville Area System of Transit.
He has a bachelor’s degree in transportation and logistics management from North Carolina A&T State University and is a graduate of the NC Transportation Leadership Development Program.
GoTriangle will be conducting a search to fill the director of operations position and welcomes all qualified applicants to apply for this position when it is posted on GoTriangle’s website.
