Board of Directors

2022 Officers

President – Carrie Butler, Transit Authority of River City 

Carrie Butler developed her passion for public transportation during her fellowship from Florida Department of Transportation where she worked for Miami-Dade Transit and Star Metro in Tallahassee. She is a highly motivated, energetic transit professional with nearly 20 years’ experience in the field of transportation and urban planning. Her broad base of experience in the transit industry ranges from day-to-day management, service planning and scheduling, marketing to long term regional planning, including preliminary New Starts projects.

She currently serves as the Executive Director of Transit Authority of River City (TARC), the transit authority of Louisville, Kentucky since of September 2020. She previously served as General Manager of Lextran, the transit authority in Lexington, Kentucky where she oversees all aspects of the organization, which provides nearly five million passenger trips annually with a fleet of 65 vehicles. Prior to her work at Lextran, Butler was at the Transit Authority of River City, she managed the Department of Planning and Scheduling. At TranSystems, her project focus was on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) planning along with a range of transit and urban design plans for transit agencies, local, state and federal projects. She has a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Florida State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Bellarmine University.

 


Vice President – Barry Zink, Whayne Power

ZinkBarry Zink is the On Highway Business Manager for Whayne Supply Company.  Born in Louisville  Ky. Barry is a lifelong resident of the area and has 2 sons Tyler and Dylan and has been married to his lovely wife Melissa for almost 20 years. Barry is responsible for the Sale and Product Support of the Thomas Built Buses and Cat Legacy Engines. Whayne Supply Company has been in business for 104 years and has 16 locations throughout Kentucky and Southern Indiana.  Barry also serves on the board for the Kentucky Trucking Association. In his spare time Barry enjoys playing golf with his family and traveling to various vacation spots around the country.

 


Secretary – Chris Phillips, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government

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Chris was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, and graduated from Bryan Station High School in 2001. He went to Berea College and graduated in 2006 with a Business Administration degree (emphasis was Finance). He began working for Lexington Fayette Urban County Government (or LFUCG) in 2008, including as Fleet Liaison maintaining Light and Heavy Duty fleets for Waste Management. Chris now works as Operations Manager overseeing and monitoring routing operations, planning and meeting with dispatch to ensure efficient and effective operations.

 

 


Treasurer – Chris Ward, Transit Authority of River City

Bio coming soon.


Attorney of Record – Brian Zoeller, Frost Brown Todd

Brian is an attorney in the firm’s Regulated Business Practice Group and focuses his practice on development, real estate and transactional matters across various industries. Recently, Brian has been advising clients on development of renewable energy projects. These projects include anaerobic digester facilities, landfill gas to energy projects and solar projects, and his efforts include site identification and acquisition, obtaining zoning approvals, financing, community engagement, incentive procurement, identifying feedstock partners, and negotiating with local utilities. These renewable energy projects are an extension of his work on the development of CNG fueling stations and assisting clients with fleet conversion to CNG. Additionally, Brian has advised clients in the health care industry for years on the financing, purchase and sale of skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities and medical office buildings on various operational matters, including complying with Stark and anti-kickback laws, structuring joint ventures, addressing the corporate practice of medicine and negotiating physician contracts. Before entering the legal field, Brian worked for Kindred Healthcare, Inc. in the Compliance Department, where he managed the implementation of several key components of Kindred Healthcare’s Corporate Integrity Agreement and helped develop and implement the company’s HIPAA compliance program.


 2022 Board of Directors

Jagannadh Satyavolu, University of Louisville CONN Center

Dr. Satyavolu works as Theme Leader, Biomass and Biofuels, Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY.  He earned his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.  He has 30 years of experience in commercial business leadership roles, operations and capital project management, product and process technology development, industrial application research, and academia.  He has lead projects in the development of biomass conversion to biofuels, biochemicals and other value added products; waste to energy conversion technologies and implementation, and value generation from co-product streams.  He holds 20 US and international patents and has led multiple projects from concept to commercialization. Prior to joining Conn Center, he worked at Cargill, Georgia Institute of Technology, Battelle Labs, and the Ohio State University.

 


Mark Cahill, Bluegrass International Trucks, Buses, RV’s, and Idealease, Inc

Mark Cahill is the Bus Sales Manager for Bluegrass International Trucks, Buses, RV’s, and Idealease, Inc. He is responsible for IC Bus (International) school and commercial bus sales in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Cahill has been working with Kentucky school districts in this capacity since 2002. Prior to that, he prepared AmTran and International school bus bids for schools in Ohio. He has been in the school bus industry since May of 1993.

Cahill was born and raised in Kenton County in Northern Kentucky and has resided in Boone County for the last 23 years. He enjoys hunting, fishing, and hiking, and sometimes golfing when time allows, as well as spending time with his wife, three children and his three grandchildren!

Mark Cahill has experienced many changes in the school bus industry, including green diesel and hybrid electric school buses, to name a couple. He looks forward to staying informed about current and upcoming vehicle technology as the transition is made to cleaner and greener fleets and products.


Len Dunman, Mercer Transportation

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Len Dunman is the Safety Director of Mercer Transportation Company in Louisville. Mercer Transportation Company operates a fleet of more than 2,400 leased contractors in all fifty states and throughout Canada. During his more than thirty-four years with Mercer, Len has held a variety of managerial positions, becoming Safety Director in 2002. Along with being the chief safety officer of Mercer, Len is responsible for all environmental compliance and initiatives. He supervises a safety department of some thirty salaried and hourly employees. He is the designated corporate representative for all accident or other injury litigation.

Always willing to help, Len is a member of several boards of directors both relating to his job and in the community. He attends a number of state and national trucking organization and law enforcement safety meetings every year, travelling extensively throughout the US and Canada. As a certified truck inspector, he meets with Mercer contractors at different locations each month for both safety meetings and truck inspections. He frequently visits and discusses safety and environmental topics with a variety of Mercer’s customers throughout the US. In 2014 he was appointed to the Kentucky Motor Carrier Advisory Committee by Governor Steve Beshear. The Kentucky Trucking Association named Len its Safety Director of the Year for 2016. He is a board member and former vice president and secretary of the Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition and a third generation Professional Member of the American Society of Safety Engineers. As Mercer’s representative board member, he has recently completed his second term as president of the Shippingport Centre Business Association in Louisville.

A Louisville native, Len is a graduate of Murray State University. He got his start in trucking while in college, working for the old Taylor Motors Company, an International truck dealership in Murray, KY. Len enjoys working on old cars, traveling on his Harley, and spending time with his family. Len and his wife, Bridgette, live near LaGrange, in Oldham County, Kentucky. They have five grown children, seven grandchildren and two dachshunds.


Laura Knoth, Kentucky Corn Growers and Small Grain Growers Associations

Laura M. Knoth serves as the executive director for the Kentucky Corn Growers and Kentucky Small Grain Growers Associations, where she works with grower leaders to provide promotion, marketing, education, grassroots and membership programs for more than 2,000 grain farmers across the Commonwealth.

Prior to accepting her current position, Knoth served the Kentucky Farm Bureau for 18 years, most recently as director of the Public Affairs Division. In this position, she supervised Kentucky Farm Bureau’s public affairs activities, including state and national lobbying, policy development programs, political education, natural resources, local affairs and commodity activities.

She also served as Kentucky Farm Bureau’s director of natural and environmental resources and as an area program director, working with county Farm Bureaus in 12 Western Kentucky counties to coordinate member service and policy implementation programs.

Ms. Knoth is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, holding a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture with an emphasis in natural resources and environmental economics. She worked as an environmental consultant with private industry before joining Kentucky Farm Bureau.


Marie Burnett, Waste Management

Marie Burnett current serves as Senior District Manager for Waste Management. She has been a dedicated member of the Waste Management team since 2008. Prior to working for Waste Management, she served as Environmental Compliance Manager for Louisville Metro Government. Burnett is a highly experienced Senior District Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the environmental services industry. She has a strong background in environmental issues, environmental permitting, renewable energy, operations, business development, contract negotiations, construction management, waste management, disposal and recycling. She has more than 20 years experience in Health and Safety, OSHA compliance, waste management and environmental field with a Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.) focused in Environmental Science from Eastern Kentucky University.


Pete McDonald, Kentucky Division of Fleet Management

 McDonald spent most of his career on the retail side of automotive sales. He worked for 30 years in sales, sales management, and Business Management on the financial side of sales. He has been at Fleet Management, under the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Finance and Administration Cabinet for the last 5+ years. He knows buying vehicles, selling vehicles, maintaining vehicles, and managing people from the very diverse people in the Automotive sales business. He really enjoys working at Fleet Management as its defiantly something new every day, keeping our fleet current, replacing vehicles that are past their time, repairing wrecks, keeping our techs current with all of the new information of newer vehicles, and just the day to day operation of Fleet.

 


Ruben Aradas, UPS

Bio coming soon.


Michelle King, Louisville Metro Government – Air Pollution Control District

Michelle King is Executive Administrator and the Director of Program Planning at the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District (APCD). Michelle has been with APCD for more than 10 years, developing an expertise in urban air quality issues and the strategies local governments employ to address them. With a focus on reducing air quality impacts from a variety of emission sources in Louisville, Michelle has worked on projects with both private and public-sector partners.

Through her work at APCD, Michelle has enjoyed the opportunity to bring an air quality perspective to collaborations with other Louisville Metro departments and community organizations around topics ranging from urban heat islands to greenhouse gas inventories and climate action planning to alternative fuels. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of the Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition, Michelle currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Louisville Sustainability Council; the Operations Board of Trees Louisville; and the Steering Committee of the Partnership for a Green City, a collective sustainability effort by four of Louisville’s largest public entities: Louisville Metro Government, University of Louisville, Jefferson County Public Schools, and Jefferson Community & Technical College.

Michelle earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Morehead State University, a Master of Public Affairs in Environmental Policy from the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law.


Brian Bane – Cummins Crosspoint

Brian is the Operations Vice President for the Ohio Valley Area with Cummins Inc. based out of the Louisville Sales office. He has been with the Cummins distribution business for the past 27 years holding various positions in management, sales and customer support. Brian has been involved with the Louisville area transportation industry for over 30 years and a member of the Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition for the past 11 years. He is also a member of the Kentucky Trucking Association board of directors. In his current role with Cummins Inc. he is responsible for the operational aspects of 6 Cummins Branch operations with various markets, on-highway, mining, marine and power generation. A native of southern Indiana, Brian has been blessed with a wonderful wife of 32 years, 3 daughters and 6 grandchildren. He enjoys golfing and beach vacations with family and friends.


Barry Walker, LG&E/KU

Walker_Barry_RBarry Walker is Director, Gas Control and Storage at Louisville Gas and Electric Company. At LG&E Barry is responsible for operation of LG&E’s gas transmission, underground natural gas storage, and high pressure natural gas delivery systems. Facilities under his responsibility include: five underground gas storage reservoirs, three gas compressor stations, gas processing facilities, gas transmission system, city gate stations, Gas Control Center, distribution system gas regulation facilities, and industrial/large commercial metering/regulating facilities. Barry is a graduate of University of Kentucky with Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Barry has been employed at LG&E for over 30 years and has served in various roles within engineering, operations, asset management, and system planning areas. Barry is a member of the American Gas Association Operating Section Managing Committee and serves on the board of directors for the Kentucky Gas Association and the Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition. Barry is a resident of Jefferson County and has been married over 25 years with three daughters. When not working Barry enjoys; weekend farming, wood working, horseback riding, repairing anything, traveling, reading, and fine food.


Mike Rodgers, Owensboro Community and Technical College

Photo and bio coming soon.