C-Tran names two CEO finalists

C-Tran has named two experienced finalists from dozens of candidates to replace outgoing Executive Director/CEO Jeff Hamm, who is retiring at the end of June, according to a news release.

Shawn Donaghy is the current Chief Operating Officer for the Fort Worth Transportation Authority in Fort Worth, Texas. Donaghy’s current job involves overseeing fixed route bus and paratransit operations, maintenance, information technology, safety and risk management, and transit police and more. Before working in Texas, he was the CEO of Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 2016, he was named one of the Top 40-under-40 by Mass Transit magazine.

Donaghy holds a bachelor’s degree in executive leadership and communications from Northern Kentucky University and a master of public administration degree from Tarleton State University.

Doug Middleton most recently was the executive vice president of maintenance and previously the chief operations officer at Pierce Transit in Tacoma. His work required oversight of fixed route and paratransit maintenance, personnel and public safety.

Prior to working in Tacoma, Middleton worked in an administrative role at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Middleton holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California Baptist University, Riverside, and a master’s in public administration from California State University, Long Beach.

Both candidates will be interviewed several times next week. They’ll meet with C-Tran employees, the C-Tran Citizens Advisory Committee and the board of directors among others.

The board will likely choose Hamm’s replacement before he leaves the agency.

The incoming executive will take over an agency free of debt and in a strong financial position, but trying to recover declining ridership and rein in paratransit costs.