2015-16 Advisory Council Officer Candidate Statements

Chair Nominee Tegin Teich Bennett

I have lived in the Boston area (including Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Arlington, Belmont, Weymouth, and Natick) for 18 years. I have Masters Degrees in both Urban Planning and Transportation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and have worked for the last seven years as a transportation planner, first in the private sector, and now for the City of Cambridge. In the past year at the City, I have participated extensively (through RTAC and other avenues) in the planning processes run by the MPO to update the Long-Range Transportation Plan, the Transportation Improvement Program, and the Unified Planning Work Program. I strongly believe in the importance of municipal and other stakeholder input in decision-making related to regional planning and allocating federal funding. I am therefore interested in the Chair position of RTAC.

I have been involved in leadership positions in numerous boards and committees in the past: I helped build a networking organization for young transportation professionals from scratch, serving on its board for four years; I have been members and Vice Chairs of local municipal transportation committees in Cambridge and Somerville as a resident; and now, as staff for the City of Cambridge, I manage a transit committee that advises the City on investments related to public transit.

As Chair of the committee, I would like to continue to work with committee members and the past leadership to ensure RTAC’s relevance and value both to its members as well as to the region. This involves continued participation in the MPO planning process representing the committee, strengthening RTAC’s relationship with the MPO, strengthening communication with the MPO and other regional and state agencies, and ensuring that the RTAC meetings are engaging and effective in gathering members’ input.

Vice Chair Nominee Mark Sanborn

Professional Background:

· 1999-2001 – US Senator Bob Smith’s DC Office, Legislative Correspondent

· 2001-2003 – Congressman Charlie Bass’ Nashua, NH District Office, Projects Assistant

· 2004-2007 – US Department of Agriculture – Rural Development’s DC Office, Special Assistant to the Administrator

· 2007-2009 – US Department of Transportation – Office of Policy (DC Office), Counselor to the Acting Under Secretary for Policy

· 2009-2011 – Gate City Consulting, LLC, Founder

· 2011-2013 – NH Department of Transportation, Federal Liaison

· 2013-Present – Concord Coach Lines, Director of Government Relations and Corporate Development (Also Massachusetts Bus Association Chair)

Goals for next year as Vice Chair of the Regional Transportation Advisory Council:

Working with Tegin Teich Bennett in her role as Chair, I hope to continue the work of Mike Gowing and David Montgomery in terms of ensuring the monthly meetings of the RTAC include informative and relevant presentations and provide members with the opportunity to comment on the activities of the Boston MPO so your voice is heard in their process.

I plan to use my knowledge of transportation planning and project development at both the federal and state level to successfully articulate the goals of our members to improve Massachusetts’ transportation system. In my time on the RTAC, I have seen how valuable the input from our group is and I hope to pass that input along in the same effective manner that Mike and David did during their tenure as Chair and Vice Chair.

Finally, I look forward to working with David Fargen and the other staff members from the Central Transportation Planning Staff to properly follow their procedures for participating in the planning process.