News Releases
Message from the RTA Chairman 02-14
- February 19th, 2014
Message from the Chairman of the RTA
It was President John F. Kennedy who said that “leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” At the RTA this is a principle that we embrace, not just in our role as transit providers, but in our role as a major employer in the City of New Orleans. Through our delegated management agreement with Veolia Transportation Services, Inc. we employ over 600 citizens including operators, administrators, technicians, maintenance workers and managers. Each employee is an investment in New Orleans and the region and each has the opportunity for learning and leadership.
Our Leadership Development Program is open to all employees and combines mentoring, experiential learning and classroom training to assist our employees to achieve their career goals. The program, developed by Human Resources Director Jennetter Dobard and Grants Director Stephanie Pulley, gives RTA employees an opportunity to acquire the skills and ability to move up within the agency and also to acquire transferable skills that our workers can take with them anywhere their career desires lead them.
Mentoring and experiential learning activities include on-the-job training and lecture sessions with directors of the agency, Veolia executives and members of the Board of Commissioners. For classroom training we anticipate building on the successful outcomes of the Streetcar Maintenance Training program conducted in partnership with Delgado Community College to provide skills development in crisis management, conflict management, time management, and business ethics in the workplace and performance management.
Mentoring and experiential learning, provided by the current directors of the organization, will be reinforced by the leadership of Veolia Vice President Justin Augustine who serves as the agency’s general manager.
“His door is always open”, says Keziah Lee, a member of the Grants Department and Leadership Program participant, “and he makes sure every door is open so we can access any director in any department.”
Shulond Myer of the Marketing Department, a 10-year veteran of the RTA and Leadership program participant, tells us that she’s inspired by Justin’s personal career path, starting as an RTA employee and today leading the agency as a Vice President of a multi-national corporation.
“Some people make it to the top and become untouchable,” she says “but all doors are open for us.”
Our future RTA leaders represent a range of experience and work history here at the RTA – some who have been with us for over 10 years, others who are new to the agency.
Gaynell Johnson, an Administrative Assistant in the Maintenance Department, sees the program as
“an opportunity to implement great ideas in a great workplace.”
The current cohort of 14 program participants work not only on their individual career goals, but have plans to work collectively on projects to make the agency a better workplace for all employees and a better corporate citizen in New Orleans.
“This is more than just succession planning, more than just good business, this is about our values as an agency and a corporation,” says Jennetter Dobard, the Veolia Human Resource Director in service to the RTA. “This is about investing in the people who make the agency a great place to work – the people who make sure the citizens of New Orleans and the region can get to their jobs everyday – on time and safely.”
At the RTA, leadership and learning are indispensable and it is our expectation that our continued investment in learning for our employees will yield the future leaders of the agency, the city and the transit industry.
Salvador G. Longoria
Chairman
Regional Transit Authority Board of Commissioners
Reprinted from letter for Tribune, February 2014
Our Leadership Development Program is open to all employees and combines mentoring, experiential learning and classroom training to assist our employees to achieve their career goals. The program, developed by Human Resources Director Jennetter Dobard and Grants Director Stephanie Pulley, gives RTA employees an opportunity to acquire the skills and ability to move up within the agency and also to acquire transferable skills that our workers can take with them anywhere their career desires lead them.
Mentoring and experiential learning activities include on-the-job training and lecture sessions with directors of the agency, Veolia executives and members of the Board of Commissioners. For classroom training we anticipate building on the successful outcomes of the Streetcar Maintenance Training program conducted in partnership with Delgado Community College to provide skills development in crisis management, conflict management, time management, and business ethics in the workplace and performance management.
Mentoring and experiential learning, provided by the current directors of the organization, will be reinforced by the leadership of Veolia Vice President Justin Augustine who serves as the agency’s general manager.
“His door is always open”, says Keziah Lee, a member of the Grants Department and Leadership Program participant, “and he makes sure every door is open so we can access any director in any department.”
Shulond Myer of the Marketing Department, a 10-year veteran of the RTA and Leadership program participant, tells us that she’s inspired by Justin’s personal career path, starting as an RTA employee and today leading the agency as a Vice President of a multi-national corporation.
“Some people make it to the top and become untouchable,” she says “but all doors are open for us.”
Our future RTA leaders represent a range of experience and work history here at the RTA – some who have been with us for over 10 years, others who are new to the agency.
Gaynell Johnson, an Administrative Assistant in the Maintenance Department, sees the program as
“an opportunity to implement great ideas in a great workplace.”
The current cohort of 14 program participants work not only on their individual career goals, but have plans to work collectively on projects to make the agency a better workplace for all employees and a better corporate citizen in New Orleans.
“This is more than just succession planning, more than just good business, this is about our values as an agency and a corporation,” says Jennetter Dobard, the Veolia Human Resource Director in service to the RTA. “This is about investing in the people who make the agency a great place to work – the people who make sure the citizens of New Orleans and the region can get to their jobs everyday – on time and safely.”
At the RTA, leadership and learning are indispensable and it is our expectation that our continued investment in learning for our employees will yield the future leaders of the agency, the city and the transit industry.
Salvador G. Longoria
Chairman
Regional Transit Authority Board of Commissioners
Reprinted from letter for Tribune, February 2014
© Regional Transit Authority