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White House to meet the president and the first lady said a lot about APTA's stature in Washington, D.C.," Melaniphy told METRO Magazine in 2012. "It was a tremendous experience; it is as great as you think it might be. Tey are truly engaging peo- ple, they were very nice to talk with and it was great to be able to tell a little bit of APTA's story." Melaniphy brings private-sector experience to his APTA post, having previously served as VP, public sector, at Mo- tor Coach Industries Inc., where he worked for more than 10 years and was responsible for operations in the U.S. and Can- ada. During this time he was very active within APTA, hav- ing served as chair of the 2011 International Expo Committee, chair of the Awards Committee and vice chair of the Business Member Board of Governors. He is a 2005 graduate of Leadership APTA and has also served as vice chair of the TRB's TOPS committee and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the New York Transit Museum. PHIL WASHINGTON GM/CEO Denver Regional Transportation District With the RTD for 14 years, including the last four as GM/CEO, RTD has undertaken a huge number of innovative cost-efec- tive and customer-focused initiatives to build projects and improve service to the public un- der Washington. Perhaps the most visible is RTD's FasTracks Program, which is building 122 miles of new commuter rail and light rail, 18 miles of bus rapid transit service, adding 21,000 new parking spac- es and redeveloping Union Station. Te W Line, RTD's frst FasTracks-funded rail line, opened in 2013 eight months ahead of schedule and within adopted budget — adding 12 miles for a system-wide total of 47 miles. Facing challenges to keep the program funded and mov- ing, Washington has challenged staf to create innovative ap- proaches, such as partnering with the private sector on the Ea- gle P3 — a $2.2 billion project that includes the East Rail Line to Denver International Airport, the Gold Rail Line, a segment of Northwest Rail, the commuter rail maintenance facility and rail feet. Te project is set to open in 2016. Additionally, Washington is the driving force behind Den- ver's Workforce Initiative Now (WIN) program, the largest transit public-private partnership in the country that seeks to leverage existing training resources through unique workforce development opportunities. Te WIN collaborative partnership between RTD, the Com- munity College of Denver, Denver Transit Partners and the Urban League of Metropolitan Denver, helps job seekers, companies, and local communities through the creation of ca- reer opportunities in the transportation and construction in- dustries. Tis is accomplished through identifying, assessing, training, and placing community members into careers relat- ed to transportation and mixed-use development projects that grow the local workforce and strengthens the economy. SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D-CA) A staunch advocate for the environment, Boxer has been a member of the U.S. Senate since 1992 and is the current chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW). Boxer was instrumental in the passage of ARRA and helped champion the continuation of the TIGER grant program. Boxer was also key in shaping surface trans- portation legislation in the Senate, which eventually became MAP-21. In those eforts, Boxer worked in a bipartisan way with rank- ing member James Inhofe (R-OK) to get a bill done that also streamlined environmental reviews for trans- portation projects. With a new surface transportation bill currently on the Hill, Boxer and the Senate EPW committee could be instrumental again in getting legislation passed as well as continued fund- ing of the Highway Trust Fund. JOSEPH CASEY GM Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority As GM of the sixth-largest transit operation in the U.S., Casey is responsible for a 9,300-per- son organization providing multi-modal pub- lic transit services to a 2,200-square-mile, fve- county service region and selected destinations in New Jersey and Delaware. Casey has been committed to focusing the or- ganization on customer service and courtesy, 43 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014 m ETRO m AGAZINE > Make Their Mark of the Decade People