Board of Directors Biographies

Peter Benjamin, Chairman, joined the Metro Board in April 2007 as Principal Director, representing Montgomery County and the State of Maryland. Mr. Benjamin served as First Vice Chairman in 2009 and previously served as Metro's Chief Financial Officer from 1993-2006, Director of Planning from 1989-1993, and Senior Financial Advisor from 1986-1989. Prior to that he was Associate Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration. He has been elected Mayor of Garrett Park, MD, for three terms and has led and served on numerous committees and panels of the American Public Transportation Association and the Transportation Research Board.

Catherine Hudgins, First Vice Chairman, joined the Metro Board in January 2004 as an Alternate Director. She was appointed as Principal Director in 2008 representing Fairfax County, Va. Mrs. Hudgins was elected to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in November 1999 and is currently serving her third term. She is Chairperson of the Fairfax County Board's Human Services and Housing and Community Development Committees. Mrs. Hudgins is a member of the Transportation Planning Board, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Board of Directors, and the Human Services Policy Committee. She is also Chairman of Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and a member of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission. Additionally, Mrs. Hudgins is the 2nd Vice President of the Executive Committee for the Virginia Association of Counties, and a member of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. She holds a Masters of Public Administration degree from George Mason University and BS degree in mathematics education from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.

Neil Albert, Second Vice Chairman, joined the Metro Board in October 2008 as Principal Director, representing the District of Columbia. He is the District of Columbia's City Administrator and is responsible for managing the City's daily operations, developing and managing its $9 billion budget. Before becoming City Administrator in mid-2009, he served two years as Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. Where he was responsible for the District's efforts to create and preserve affordable housing and he oversees the District's business attraction and retention initiatives. Mr. Albert was also co-founder and CEO of EdBuild, an educational services firm working to increase the number of high-performing schools in the District. He spent five years as a senior member of former Washington Mayor Anthony A. Williams's administration and held a number of senior-level positions in the public and private sector in New York City.

Mortimer L. Downey joined the Board in January 2010 as the first member appointed by the Federal Government. Mr. Downey served as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation from 1993 to 2001 and as an Assistant Secretary of Transportation from 1977 to 1981 and in 2008. He also led the Obama Transition agency review team for transportation. In all these periods, he was involved in issues affecting Metro. From 1981 to 1993, he was an officer of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, serving for several years as its Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer. Since 2001, he has been a transportation consultant, working on a wide variety of institutional, financial and organizational issues for public and private clients both foreign and domestic. He holds a B.A. degree from Yale University in political science, a Master's Degree in Public Administration from New York University's Wagner School of Public Service, and completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School. He has received numerous transportation awards, including one of the three lifetime achievement awards ever granted by the American Public Transportation Association. He is a resident of Oakton, VA.

Elizabeth M. Hewlett joined the Metro Board in April 2007 and served as Chairman in 2007-08. She is a Principal Director for the State of Maryland, representing Prince George's County. A Partner in the law firm of Shipley, Horne & Hewlett, P.A., Ms. Hewlett previously served as Chair of the Prince George's County Planning Board and the bi-county Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, as well as MNCPPC Legal Counsel and as a private practice attorney -- amassing over two decades of land use planning experience with a focus on transit-oriented development and regional planning. Ms. Hewlett serves on several local Boards and has served in many leadership positions throughout her career, including Chair, Metropolitan Washington Council of Government's Metropolitan Development Policy Committee, Maryland State Board of Law Examiners, Chair, Prince George's Cable Television Commission, Board Member, Dimensions Health Corporation, Inc. Ms. Hewlett is licensed to practice law in Maryland, Massachusetts, the District of Columbia, and before the United States Supreme Court, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Prince George's County Bar Association.

Christopher Zimmerman has served on the Metro Board as Principal Member representing Arlington County, VA, since January 1998. He was Chairman of the Board in 2002 and in 2008. He has been a Member of the Arlington County Board since 1996, serving as Chairman in 1998, 2002, and in 2006. Mr. Zimmerman also represents Arlington on the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, the Transportation Planning Board for the National Capital Region, the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, and the Virginia Railway Express Operations Board. He is a past president of the Virginia Transit Association, and is an active member of the American Public Transportation Association.

Jim Graham, joined the Metro Board in January 1999 and served as Chairman both in 2003 and 2009. Mr. Graham serves on the Council of the District of Columbia, representing Ward One. He also chairs the Council's Committee on Public Works and Transportation. Mr. Graham served as Executive Director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic 1984-1998. Previously, Mr. Graham served as Staff Counsel for Senator Abe Ribicoff (D-Conn.) and Clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren (Rtd.) Mr.Graham is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gordon Linton joined the Metro Board in May 2004 as an Alternate Director representing Montgomery County, MD. Mr. Linton is a former Federal Transit Administrator (1993 to 1999) during President Clinton's administration, where he shaped and represented the President's public transportation policies and budget.

He also formerly served as an elected member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Mr. Linton has an acknowledged record of accomplishment in advancing and executing innovative transportation and other public policies at the local, state, and national level. He was a major architect of the Federal Transit Authorization Act of 1998, which authorized an unprecedented $41 billion of new investment in bus and rail transit systems throughout the country. Mr. Linton launched the Federal Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Program as well as the Livable Communities Initiative to strengthen the linkage between transit services and communities. He is a Senior Advisor and Owner of 200consult Transportation Solutions, providing consulting and strategic positioning advisory services. He previously served as the Senior Advisor and Vice President of Business Development with WageWorks, Inc.

Jeffrey C. McKay joined the Metro Board in January 2008 as an Alternate Director from Fairfax County representing Virginia and also serves on Metro's Technology Review Ad Hoc Committee. Mr. McKay was elected to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in November 2007 and represents the Lee District. He chairs the Fairfax County Board's Legislative Committee, Transportation Committee and Ad-Hoc Hot Lanes Committee and co-chairs the Board's committee on Community Revitalization and Reinvestment. Mr. McKay is also a member of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) the Virginia Transit Association, and is the Fairfax County Alternate to the Virginia Railway Express Operations Committee. Mr. McKay is also a sworn Reserve Deputy Sheriff for Fairfax County.

Anthony R. Giancola, P.E. joined the Metro Board in February 2007 as Alternate Director representing the District of Columbia. Since 1993, Mr. Giancola has served as the Executive Director of the National Association of County Engineers. Previously, Mr. Giancola served in the Civil Engineer Corps of the U.S. Navy for 20 years, retiring from active duty in 1987. In 1998, he helped found the Gateway Georgia Avenue Revitalization Corporation and served on its Board of Directors until 2009. He has served as the Public Works Director for the City of Takoma Park, MD and as the Chief Engineer in the Public Works Department Frederick County, MD. He is a licensed professional engineer in the District of Columbia and Maryland.

Marcel C. Acosta joined the Metro Board in January 2010 as an Alternate Director representing the federal government. He has more than 25 years of experience in urban and transportation planning. Mr. Acosta is the Executive Director of the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), the federal government's central planning agency for the National Capital Region. Prior to joining NCPC in 2001, Mr. Acosta served as senior vice president of planning and development for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the nation's second largest public transportation system. As CTA's chief planner, he developed new capital programs and oversaw successful initiatives that increased ridership and reduced operating costs for the city's bus and rail systems. Prior to his role at CTA, he served as deputy commissioner at the Chicago Department of Planning and Development. Mr. Acosta received a master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a 2001 Loeb Fellow of Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.

Marcell Solomon joined the Metro Board in March 2003 as an Alternate Director from Prince George's County, MD. Mr. Solomon currently practices law at Marcell Solomon & Associates, P.C. with broad experience in handling commercial litigation and securities transactions. Mr. Solomon previously practiced law with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in New York City.

William D. Euille joined the Metro Board in July 2000 as Alternate Director representing the City of Alexanria, Virginia. Mr. Euille is currently the Mayor of Alexandria, and he has served on the Alexandria City Council since May 1994. Mr. Euille is Founder/President/CEO of William D. Euille & Associates, Inc, a construction services company. In addition to serving on the Metro Board, he is President of the Virginia Transit Authority, Vice Chair of the Norther Virginia Transportation Authority, and Vice Chair of the Norther Virginia Transportation Commission.

Michael A. Brown, a resident of Ward 4, was elected in November 2008 as an At-Large member of the Council of the District of Columbia. As Councilmember, Brown serves on the following Council Committees: Finance and Revenue; Housing and Workforce Development; Aging and Community Affairs; Human Services, Public Services and Consumer Affairs; and the Committee of the Whole. He also serves as chairman of the Special Committee on Statehood and Self Determination and the Subcommittee on Taxicabs. He is an alternate member of the Metro Board of Directors and was recently appointed chair of the Policy and Development Committee for the Council of State Governments (COG).

Councilmember Brown received his undergraduate degree from Clark University in Massachusetts and his law degree from Widener University School of Law in Delaware. Currently, the Managing Director for Government Affairs at Edwards, Angell, Palmer & Dodge, one of the premier corporate law firms in the country, Michael Brown specializes in municipal finance, banking, education, energy, housing and international affairs. He utilizes his expertise in international trade, foreign relations, federal and state/local representation and public policy to serve the needs of a wide variety of clients. Brown has served on the boards of several local organizations, including the Boys and Girls Club and the Whitman Walker Clinic. Mr. Brown is the son of former Clinton administration Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, who also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.