Metro News Release

For immediate release: January 27, 2011

Catherine Hudgins elected Chair of Metro Board of Directors

Four new members join Metro Board

Catherine Hudgins has been elected Chair of the Board of Directors of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) effective immediately. Hudgins, a Board member representing Fairfax County, VA, succeeds Peter Benjamin, whose one-year term as chair ended today (Jan. 27).

The Board also elected First Vice Chair Tom Downs from the District of Columbia and Second Vice Chair Mortimer Downey, representing the federal government.

“This new Board leadership will be focused on policy-making and goal-setting, as well as the important job we have of securing adequate funding for Metro,” Hudgins said. “Going forward, the Board’s governance will include setting performance measurements and making them transparent in a way that ensures public accountability and builds confidence and trust in Metro,” she said.

Four new members joined the Metro Board today. Downs and Tommy Wells of the District of Columbia, Mary Hynes of Virginia, and Kathy Porter of Maryland were all sworn in.

“As we administer the oath of office today to four new Board members, we look forward to the different ideas and perspectives that our new colleagues will bring,” Benjamin said as he welcomed the new Board members.

Downs, who served on the Metro Board of Directors from 1981 to 1983, succeeds Neil Albert as a principal director representing the District of Columbia. Currently, Downs is the Chairman of the Board of Advisors for Veolia Transportation of North America, a Paris based multi-national corporation. He previously served as President of the Eno Transportation Foundation, Professor of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, President and CEO of Amtrak, President of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority in New York City, Commissioner of Transportation for the State of New Jersey, Chairman of the Board of New Jersey Transit, City Administrator of Washington, DC, Director of the District Department of Transportation, Executive Director of the Federal Transit Administration, and as a White House Fellow at the US Department of Transportation.

Wells, a District of Columbia Councilmember representing Ward 6, succeeds Jim Graham as a principal director representing the District of Columbia. Wells is the new Chair of the District Council’s Committee on Public Works and Transportation. He also serves on the committees on Human Services, Health, and Government Operations and the Environment. He is the former Chair of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Human Services Planning Committee, Chair of the DC Safe Routes to School State Network and the past Chair of the Chesapeake Bay Local Government Advisory Committee.

Hynes succeeds Christopher Zimmerman as a principal director representing Virginia. Hynes is a member of the Arlington County Board and represents Arlington County on the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission where she serves on the Legislative Committee. She also serves on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments where she chairs the Aviation Policy Committee. She is a member of the Virginia Municipal League where she is chair of the Urban Section and served for three years on the Legislative Committee.

Porter succeeds Gordon Linton as an alternate director representing Maryland. Porter formerly served as mayor of the City of Takoma Park, MD, from 1997 to 2007 and served on the Takoma Park City Council from 1991 to 1997. She represented Takoma Park on the Metropolitan Washington Transportation Planning Board for nearly 15 years, serving as chair in 2000. From 2003 to 2006, she chaired the Transportation Planning Board’s Access for All Committee, charged with bringing representatives from disadvantaged groups into the transportation planning process. From 2006 to 2007, she chaired the Board’s Human Service Transportation Coordination Committee.

The Metro Board of Directors is comprised of 14 members representing the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and the federal government. The members include Hudgins, Hynes, William Euille and Jeffrey McKay of Virginia, Downs, Wells, Michael Brown and Anthony Giancola of the District of Columbia, Hewlett, Benjamin and Porter of Maryland, and two federal appointees, Mortimer Downey and Marcel Acosta. There is one Maryland alternate member vacancy on the Board. In addition, the Administrator of the General Services Administration has two alternate member positions to fill.

News release issued at 3:57 pm, January 27, 2011.