COTA to interview 3 CEO finalists

Three candidates will interview this week as COTA looks to name a new CEO.

The job has been open since September, when CEO Curtis Stitt retired.

The new leader of the transit agency likely will determine how COTA sees its future. Does it remain a bus company with 19 million trips per year with a goal of 25 million annually by 2025? Will it become one of the later large-city transportation entities in the U.S. to implement light rail? Will it take advantage of its SmartColumbus connections and the $50 million in federal and private money that came with that designation, and be a forerunner of some other mode of transportation?

COTA's search committee plans to interview these candidates:

Emille Williams has been COTA’s interim CEO since Stitt’s retirement.

Williams was COTA’s vice president of operations before Stitt's departure. Before coming to Columbus, Williams held management positions with the Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority in Philadelphia.

Richard Krisak is chief operating office for MARTA, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.

Michael Ford is a former chief executive officer for the Southeast Michigan Regional Transit Authority in Detroit.

Ford was terminated from that job, news reports note, following questions about his expenses.

The new CEO will lead an agency that sees itself as an economic driver for the community that can help determine where Franklin County’s 1.3 million residents live, work and play.

COTA leaders believe their work can help shape the future growth of neighborhoods, jobs and even how we live by providing appropriate public transportation. The new leader will be asked to oversee that process as central Ohio’s booming population is projected to increase by 500,000 to 1 million people and create 300,000 new jobs by 2050.

That comes as technology continues to change public transportation to include Wi-fi on all COTA buses and, in the future, driverless buses.

COTA has stable funding for at least 10

The new CEO will lead an agency that sees itself as an economic driver for the community that can help determine where Franklin County’s 1.3 million residents live, work and play.

years. It receives $130 million annually from two Franklin County sales taxes. One is permanent. The other lasts for 10 years and was approved last fall by voters. COTA’s overall annual budget is $151 million. In the past year, COTA changed its routes, aiming to get more people to more jobs during more hours, especially jobs with non-weekday hours in parts of the community where those jobs exist.

COTA earlier said it hoped to name a new CEO in the first quarter of 2018, preferably in January.

Stitt’s last annual salary was $284,000.