Metro News Release
For immediate release: April 12, 2007
Elizabeth Hewlett and Peter Benjamin Join Metro's Board of Directors
Elizabeth M. Hewlett and Peter Benjamin were sworn into the Board of Directors of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) today, a few weeks after being named by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, to fill the seats vacated by Charles Deegan and Raymond Briscuso. Ms. Hewlett was also elected to chair the 12-member Board.
“The State is honored to have such talented public servants as Peter Benjamin and Elizabeth Hewlett agree to represent Marylanders on the Metro Board,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “Their depth of expertise in planning and transit financing will be crucial to improving Metro service for the thousands of transit riders that depend on it every day. I have asked them to focus on improving safety, ensuring efficiency and performance measures, and creating new transit-oriented developments.”
Hewlett, will represent Prince George’s County and is a principal in the law firm of Shipley & Horne, P.A. Last year, she completed her term as the longest serving Chair of the Prince George’s County Planning Board and as Chair of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) and the first African American and first woman to hold these positions. As Chair, she served on the Commission’s Executive and Finance Committees, as well as Vice Chair of the M-NCPPC Employee Retirement System Board. Prior to her Chair appointment, Ms. Hewlett served as Associate General Counsel to the Commission; as Associate Attorney with the law firm of Meyers, Billingsley, Shipley, Curry, Rodbell and Rosenbaum; as Staff Counsel for the Legal Aid Bureau; and as staff with the Prince George’s County Attorney’s Office and the Prince George’s County Council.
Hewlett has extensive transportation experience which included overseeing and approving several transportation plans such as the strategic framework for transit-oriented development in Prince George's County, approving the sector plan and sectional map amendments for the Morgan Boulevard and Largo Town Center Metro areas, approving the Addison Road Metro area sector plan, and the New Carrollton transit-oriented development strategy planning study.
Hewlett earned a bachelors degree from Tufts University and a juris doctorate degree from Boston College Law School.
Benjamin, who will represent Montgomery County as a voting Board member, retired from Metro in March 2006, after 20 years of service. While at Metro, Benjamin spent 13 years as the Authority’s Chief Financial Officer, four years as Director of Planning, and three years as a Senior Financial Advisor. Prior to that, he was an Associate Administrator at the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). In that capacity, he provided transit financial assistance nationwide and oversaw technology development, safety, and training.
Benjamin earned a doctorate in systems synthesis and design from Northwestern University, a masters in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a bachelors degree in aeronautical engineering and astronautics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Benjamin served as a former Town Council member and Mayor of Garrett Park for three terms.
Hewlett and Benjamin will finish the remainder of the original three-year terms of Deegan and Briscuso that concludes on May 31, and will be extended to a new three-year term starting June 1.
News release issued at 12:00 am, April 12, 2007.