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54 < m ETRO m AGAZINE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014 metro-magazine.com service to public mobility, including a Lifetime Achieve- ment Award from the Council of University Transporta- tion Centers. In October, he will be inducted into APTA's Hall of Fame. DAN BLANKENSHIP CEO Roaring Fork Transportation Authority For a rural public transportation agency, the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) has made quite an im- pact under the leadership of its CEO Dan Blankenship. To start, RFTA has won the Colorado Ass ociation of Transit Agencies (CASTA) Large Transit Agency of the Year award multiple times, with Blankenship win- ning Best Transit Administrator in both 2009 and 2011. I n 2 0 1 2 , R F TA w a s a c k n o w l e d g e d a s a White House Champion of Change for Trans- portation Innovation for its VelociRFTA bus rapid transit (BRT) system, which launched in 2013. VelociRFTA is the first rural BRT sys- tem in the U.S., with a route uniting five towns along 42 miles of Highway 82 and runs completely on compressed natural gas. When the system was launched, then U.S. Secretary of held since the inception of the institute more than 20 years ago, Diridon has devoted his entire career to transit. When he chaired the Santa Clara County (Calif.) Board of Supervisors, he initiated the frst successful public vote to generate tax revenue that would support transit. Other suc- cessful tax measures followed. He also was instrumental in bringing light rail transit to the County and to the City of San Jose, where it still serves the local population. Diridon has chaired several boards related to the San Francisco Bay Area's mobility, and has served for many years on the board of directors for APTA, including as its chair. He was appointed by two California governors to chair the Cal- ifornia High-Speed Rail Authority, and he currently chairs the American High-Speed Rail Association. Diridon has also traveled around the world making pre- sentations supporting high-speed rail, public transit and the innovative Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), also known as "podcars." He held several leadership positions with the Union Internationale des Transports Publics, and is the founder/president of the California Trolley and Railroad Corp., raising over $5 million in private and grant funds and creating $20 million in non-profit historic trolley res- torations, trolley barn and electrified tracks, along with steam railroad museum and locomotive reconstructions. Additionally, Diridon has received many awards for his MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE