RTD’s board of directors on Monday narrowed its search for a new general manager to four finalists: current interim GM Phillip Washington; transit-agency chiefs from San Diego and British Columbia; and a former United Airlines executive, according to sources close to the selection process.
The Regional Transportation District is expected to formally announce the finalists today.
In addition to Washington, the other three named finalists are Paul Jablonski, chief executive of the Metropolitan Transit System in San Diego; Doug Kelsey, chief executive of BC Rapid Transit Co.; and Sean Donohue, who was senior vice president for flight operations and on-board services at United until June 2008.
As of Monday night, it was not clear that all three candidates from outside Denver would keep their names in contention for the post.
Cal Marsella left RTD in July after 14 years as the agency’s general manager, during which he oversaw the significant expansion of RTD’s transit operations. Marsella joined a private provider of contracted transit services after leaving RTD.
The new RTD general manager will inherit one of the largest management challenges in the U.S. transit industry — completing construction of RTD’s $7 billion FasTracks program, which faces a severe budget shortfall of about $2.3 billion.
On Thursday, a panel of civic leaders selected by RTD’s board will interview the finalists and make recommendations on who should get the top post.
The panel includes former University of Colorado president John Buechner, Jefferson Economic Council president Preston Gibson, Kaiser Permanente Colorado president Donna Lynne, Lakewood Mayor Bob Murphy, Greenwood Village Mayor Nancy Sharpe and Carla Perez, Gov. Bill Ritter’s senior policy analyst for transportation.
Also on Thursday, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., RTD employees and others can meet the finalists at a public forum at the Oxford Hotel in Lower Downtown Denver.
24-year military career
The 51-year-old Washington was named interim GM in June after Marsella announced he would be leaving the agency.
Washington had been assistant general manager for administration at RTD for nine years before taking the interim position.
Before joining RTD, Washington had a 24-year career in the U.S. military, retiring after attaining the rank of command sergeant major in the Army.
He made $172,790 as assistant GM at RTD and vowed to not take an increase “of one nickel” during his time as interim chief.
Jablonski, who is 56, was named CEO of the San Diego transit system in 2003 after serving as general manager and CEO of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority in Cincinnati. He also worked for the transportation authority in Albany, N.Y.
San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System operates light-rail service on three lines with a total of 53 miles and 53 stations. The agency also is responsible for 82 fixed bus routes.
The San Diego transit agency handles 86 million passengers annually and has an annual operating budget of about $213 million, of which $72 million comes from fares, according to an agency fact sheet.
Metropolitan Transit says fare revenue accounts for about 34 percent of annual operating costs, “one of the highest fare-box recovery ratios among similar transit systems.”
Automated airport train
Kelsey’s current employer, BC Rapid Transit Co., is responsible for transit lines in the Vancouver area, including SkyTrain, an automated, driverless commuter-rail system that includes the newly opened Canada Line to the Vancouver airport. BC Rapid Transit also operates the West Coast Express, which “runs from downtown Vancouver through suburbs along the Fraser River to Mission, over 40 miles east of Vancouver,” the agency said.
SkyTrain handled about 74 million passenger trips in 2008, according to BC Rapid Transit’s fact sheet.
RTD operates about 35 miles of light rail with 37 stations. The agency handles about 94 million boardings of trains and buses annually and had an operating budget of $383 million this year.
Scaled-down benefits
Donohue held a number of executive positions at United before leaving the airline last year. At one point, he held the post of vice president for United’s Denver-based mountain region.
RTD directors have vowed that the agency’s new general manager will not have as rich an array of benefits as Marsella, who had one of the most lucrative compensation packages in the transit industry.
When he left RTD, Marsella was making about $300,000 annually but also typically got a performance bonus equivalent to 12.5 percent of base salary.
He also had negotiated a pension benefit that allowed him to accrue 2 1/2 years of pension credit for each year he worked at RTD.
Marsella’s contract allowed him to accumulate and cash out all unused sick time, and he had about 108 days of accrued sick time in his account when he left, RTD said.
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
