The “Woman Who Moves the Nation” to talk about transit’s essential place in society
ThinkTransit is less than a month away and everyone here at Trapeze and Vontas are gearing up for all the awesome sessions and activities we have planned for you. From traditional sessions to hands-on learning, the Solution Center to the Executive Summit, we know you’re going to go home with a brain full of new ideas.
But there’s one thing we haven’t talked about yet—our three keynotes.
We’re tremendously excited to announce that our keynote speaker to kick off ThinkTransit on day one is Dr. Karen Philbrick, Executive Director of the Mineta Transportation Institute. Dr. Philbrick has been called the “Woman Who Moves the Nation” by COMTO (Conference of Minority Transportation Officials) and one of the top 100 women of influence in Silicon Valley. In her Transit Unplugged episode last year, she talked about how transit makes life meaningful. And this year she is sure to outline not only where transit is now, but where we need to go in the future.
Passionate dedication to transit and transit safety
Dr. Philbrick has dedicated her life to not only promoting transit, but understanding transit. Through the many studies and projects sponsored by the Mineta Institute, she works to make transit safer, equitable, and welcoming for all. And not just for riders, but transit leaders and workers too. As part of the Women in Transportation Seminar (WTS) International Board she works to support recruiting, retaining, and promoting women in public transport.
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After her keynote on Day One, she’ll be part of a Future of Public Transit panel during the Executive Summit. Read more about Karen Philbrick on the Mineta Transportation Institute website.
Day two is all about product innovation
Last year our product showcase highlighted how Vontas and Trapeze were taking a new approach to product development; working collaboratively with you to understand what’s really needed, what’s important, and what solves problems you actually have. This year we’ll be highlighting how Trapeze RISC (Risk Incident and Safety Compliance) and Vontas OnSite came to be and how working with customers has been essential to delivering successful products. Instead of giving presentations, this product showcase will be done as a casual interview led by Trapeze Blog and Podcast Manager (and Producer of the Transit Unplugged podcast) Tris Hussey. You can get a taste of what the product showcase will be like by listening to Inside Trapeze/Vontas. In fact, some of the past guests on the show will be appearing on stage with Tris.
Of course, the product showcase isn’t the only great panel on Tuesday. Paul Comfort brings us the Transit Unplugged Live CEO Roundtable after lunch. This year we have a stellar panel featuring:
- Doran Barnes CEO of Foothill Transit and former Chair of APTA. Foothills Transit has the nation’s largest hydrogen bus fleet
- Monica Backmon CEO of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority who recently received the WTS-DC Chapter Woman of the Year Award
- Eulois Cleckley Director and CEO of the Miami-Dade County Department of Public Works and Transportation who leads the nation’s largest smart intersection infrastructure project
- Laura Hendricks CEO of Transdev North America who recently signed an agreement to acquire First Transit
- Erinn Pinkerton CEO of BC Transit in British Columbia, Canada. Under Erinn’s leadership BC Transit has been named one of BC’s Top Employers for a third year in a row
It’s not a ThinkTransit without Transit Unplugged Live.
Day three is about our host and the Awards of Excellence
Like 2022, we’ll wrap up ThinkTransit with a keynote from our hosts in Nashville and learn all about using public transit in the city. If you want to learn more about transit in Nashville check out these recent Transit Unplugged and Transit Unplugged TV episodes from Music City.
We’ll bring the day three keynote to a close by recognizing the best in public transit with the ThinkTransit Awards of Excellence. We’ve had some great nominations come in and we can’t wait to share the winners with you on April fifth.
There’s still time to register!
ThinkTransit might be less than a month away, but there’s still time to register for ThinkTransit or the ThinkTransit Executive Summit (which includes access to all of ThinkTransit). Learn more about the conference and register on the ThinkTransit website.