On Saturday, August 30, 2014, The Conference Of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO), together with former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation and Eastern Michigan graduate Rodney Slater, and Eastern Michigan University, will hold a Transportation Leadership Forum.
Rodney Slater, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation and an EMU alumnus.
This event, to take place in the McKenny Hall Ballroom on Eastern Michigan University's Ypsilanti campus from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., will consist of two panel discussions with major transportation leaders addressing the future of the industry. The opening panel discussion will run from 10 - 11:45 a.m., and the second panel will run from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. COMTO held a similar forum at Eastern in 2011.
“We are very pleased to host this forum a second time,” said Eastern President Susan Martin. “Transportation is such a critical question for our country, and Rodney Slater is among the nation’s foremost experts in the field. We so appreciate his attention to these issues, along with his continued and active engagement with Eastern as a devoted alumnus and friend.”
Linda Jacobs Washington, interim President and CEO of COMTO National and a graduate of Morgan State University, said, “The Transportation Leadership Forum is a meeting of the foremost minds in the transportation industry. Attendees will discover and discuss what the future may hold, along with gaining an understanding of salient issues affecting the present.”
Lunch will run from 11:45 to 12:45 p.m., with Morgan State University President David Wilson set to speak. Morgan State, located in Baltimore, visits Eastern Michigan for its home football opener that night, with kickoff set for 6 p.m.
The first panel, "Issues Surrounding Mass Transit,” will focus on the near-term future of transportation policy, including as it relates to surface transportation and Federal Aviation Authority spending bills that are in Congress.
The discussion will feature moderator Greg Johnson, chief operations officer of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT); Michael Ford, newly hired CEO of theRegional Transit Authorityof Southeast Michigan and CEO of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority; plus representatives from the U.S. Department of Transportation and Eastern Michigan University.
The second panel will focus on the longer-term future, examining projected policy and technology from 2035 to 2050.
Leading the discussion as moderator will be Kim Avery, metro region deputy engineer at MDOT.
Participants will include Oliver McGee, a professor of mechanical engineering at Howard University and the founder of Partnership Possibilities for America; Sandra Morgan, director of external programs for Kent State Universityand granddaughter of Garrett Morgan (an inventor and pioneer figure in the transportation industry); Hyeonshic Shin, an assistant research professor at the National Transportation Center at Morgan State University; plus a futurist from Ford Motor Company and a representative from Wayne County Metro Airport.
There is no fee to attend the event and attendees are encouraged to invite colleagues and other transportation industry professionals to attend. McKenny Hall is located on Washtenaw Avenue, near Oakwood Street, on the south side of the EMU campus. Parking is available in the EMU public lot at the corner of Oakwood and Washtenaw.
Seating at the forum is limited. To RSVP, please contact EMU’s Kelly Brennan at kbrenna7@emich.edu
For more information about COMTO, visit www.comto.org/events, or contact Brad Mims at bradmims87@verizon.net or 202-256-8610, office.