Friday, May 19 |
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SESSION TITLES |
| 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Houston TranStar Tour Location: Meet in hotel lobby Houston TranStar is a unique partnership of representatives from the City of Houston, Harris County, METRO and TxDOT who share resources and exchange information under one roof to keep motorists informed, public transit operations running smoothly, roadways clear and lives safe in the fourth most populated city in the United States. Established in 1993, the TranStar brand is globally recognized for managing southeast Texas’ transportation system (TMC) and functioning as the primary coordination site for state, county, and local police, fire, rescue and transit operations when responding to incidents and emergencies. TranStar mitigates congestion on area roadways using cutting-edge technologies, assists and consults neighboring jurisdictions with traffic management services, and offers guidance to various agencies throughout the country, as well as to delegations across the globe, on important transportation and emergency management topics. Houston METRO President & CEO Tom Lambert serves on the Executive Committee providing overall strategic direction for the organization. He is also a former Chairman of the Houston TranStar Leadership Team. Sign up in advance here. Walk-ups will be accommodated as space allows. |
| 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM | Opening Reception Location: Scot Cotton Room, Level 2 Sponsored by:
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Saturday, May 20 |
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SESSION TITLES |
| 7:30 – 8:30 am | Breakfast Location: Houston 3, Level 2 Sponsored by:
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| 8:45 – 9:30 am | Welcome & Opening Speaker Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 Speakers:
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| 9:45 – 11:15 am | Fixes for Today’s Transit Challenges: Regaining Ridership, Fiscal Stability, and Front-Line Worker Recruitment Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 The transit industry faces a number of pressing challenges: ridership recovery, post-pandemic fiscal stability, and the shortage of frontline workers to provide transit services. While there is no single solution that can address these challenges, many transit agencies are implementing innovative approaches to address or overcome them. In this session, we will provide industry-wide data on these critical issues, followed by break-out groups that are organized by system size. These break-out groups will provide an opportunity to share ideas and potential solutions to these complex and existential issues. Facilitator: David J. Carol, Chief Operating Officer, APTA |
| 10:00 am – 5:00 pm | Linked-In Corner Location: Houston Ballroom Foyer Are you getting the most out of your Linked-In account? Dr. Amanda Rico is a Linked-In and resume expert who can unlock the secrets of a great profile. Sign-up for a 15-minute slot in advance, or walk up on site for available times. |
| 11:15- 11:30 am | Transit Workforce Readiness Guide Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 Learn about APTA’s new Transit Workforce Readiness Mini-Guides, which provide the latest approaches to recruitment, on-boarding, retention and training. Speaker: Carita Ducre, Vice President Workforce Development & Educational Services, APTA |
| 11:30 – 1:00 pm | Lunch & Keynote Speaker Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 While new technologies have been impacting our world for centuries, the bewildering ability of machine learning and generative AI (ChatGPT) to imitate and create much that we and our staff do seems both incredible and disturbing. AI has the potential to revolutionize the way we operate our transit systems. Or does it? So, what is generative AI, what can it actually do, how do we harness it, and what are its implications for our transit organizations? Is “Hal” ready to replace us? Speaker: Amanda Luther, Managing Director and Partner, Boston Consulting Group Lunch sponsored by:
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| 1:00- 2:45 pm | Public Safety: The Reality & the Narrative Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 Someone fires a weapon along a busy street. As police and bystanders react, the perpetrator runs into a transit station to make his escape. The resulting story? Transit is unsafe! The media is replete with such stories about crime and other societal woes on transit, even where transit has no control or involvement with the underlying crime and issue. The perception that transit is not safe undermines public support for transit, ridership and funding. How can transit agencies better control this issue? This discussion includes two panels. The first consists of transit public safety officers/police chiefs, who will discuss the reality of what is happening on our transit systems. What are they seeing? What can they control? The second part includes a prominent transportation reporter from the Houston Chronicle and two transit communications officers to discuss how transit agencies can better convey and manage the factual about public safety, particularly as regards societal problems that transit cannot control. Panel One:
Panel Two:
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| 3:00 – 4:15 pm | Tales of the New CEO Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 Oh, how I wish I knew then what I know now! Most new CEOs find their position very different from what they had expected – some good and some not so much. Jay Fox, the new CEO of UTA in Salt Lake City, will lead a panel of other new CEOs discussing the surprises, disappointments and “training I wish I had had” in their new positions. Speakers:
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| 4:15 – 5:00 pm | CEO-to-CEO, New and Not-So New – Questions I Always Wanted to Ask Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 What are the questions that new CEOs ponder? What advice can CEOs give to one another on work-life balance, dealing with their boards and employees, serving in the spotlight. Facilitator: Jessica Mefford-Miller, CEO, Valley Metro |
| 6:30 – 8:30 pm | Dinner hosted by Jacobs Location: Houston 5, Level 2
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Sunday, May 21 |
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TIME |
SESSION TITLES |
| 7:30 – 8:30 am | CEOs Breakfast Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 Sponsored by:
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| 7:30 – 8:30 am | Deputy CEOs Exclusive: Defining Your Role as Deputy Location: Houston 3, Level 2 Join us for this breakfast and conversation, exclusively for deputy CEOs. Discussion Leaders:
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| 8:00 am – 1:00 pm | Linked-In Corner Location: Houston Ballroom Foyer Are you getting the most out of your Linked-In account? Dr. Amanda Rico is a Linked-In and resume expert who can unlock the secrets of a great profile. Sign-up for a 15-minute slot in advance, or walk up on site for available times. |
| 8:45 – 10:00 am | Diversity in the C-Suite: Different People or a Different Agency? Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 The C-Suite of today looks very different than 25 years ago. Transit agencies have undertaken a genuine transformation in the gender and racial mix of agency executives. This session explores the role of the CEO in fostering change across the transit agency and discussion by CEOs regarding what diversity in the C-Suite has meant to the transit agency, its employees and the community. Are there just different people upstairs, or has diversity created a different transit agency? Speaker: Chris J. Sablynski, Associate Professor of Management, University of the Pacific |
| 10:15 – 10:45 am | Labor Trends Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 Get up-to-speed on today’s latest labor contract trends. Speaker: Greg Dash, President, John A. Dash & Associates |
| 10:45 – 11:45 am | Open Mic: What’s Keeping You Up at Night? Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 Facilitator: Dawn Distler, Chief Executive Officer, METRO Regional Transit Authority |
| 11:45 – 1:15 pm | Lunch & Keynote Speaker Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 Transit agencies are tough to manage – employees, passengers, the board, the community. But imagine attempting to manage a $3 billion per year, 15-nation international space station encompassing the design, manufacture, testing and delivery of complex space flight hardware and software and its integration with modules from multiple international partners into a fully functional, operating space station with a permanent human presence! Maybe transit is not so bad after all! Courtenay McMillan, Director of the Mission Integration and Operations Office, International Space Station, will discuss the lessons she has learned in attempting to manage a program so challenging and large and involving a platform accessible only by space travel. Speaker: Courtenay McMillan, Director of the Mission Integration and Operations Office, International Space Station, NASA Lunch sponsored by:
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| 1:30 – 2:45 pm | The Changing Role of the CEO Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 There was a time when the primary role of the CEO was to deliver reliable transit service. Ah, the good old days! Today’s CEO, whether of a transit agency or other business or organization, faces a very different and more complex set of societal, budgetary and community issues and challenges, complicated by the immediacy of social media often published or tweeted by less-than truly knowledgeable people. So, what are boards and communities seeking in new CEOs and how does one prepare for the job of the CEO today? This session brings together two high-powered CEO recruiters and two long-time transit CEOs, who have experienced transformation in the role both inside and outside of the public transportation industry. Moderator:
Speakers:
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| 2:45 – 3:00 pm | Wrap Up Location: Houston 1-2, Level 2 Moderator: Thomas C. Lambert, President and CEO, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (Houston Metro) |
