Monday, July 18

Registration

Campaign Roadshow -Tabling Open

Campaign Roadshow Presentations

Regional Caucuses

Policy Deep Dives

Welcome Reception

TIC's Monday night reception will be hosted at the Austin FC Q2 soccer stadium in a private suite overlooking the pitch. Prior to the reception, attendees will be able to attend a community groundbreaking event on the McKalla Station, one of the two new MetroRail Red Line stations, which is made possible by Project Connect Austin's successful Prop A measure.

Tuesday, July 19

Continental Breakfast

Registration

Opening Session: Capitalizing on an Infrastructure Moment

• MJ Maynard, Vice Chair, APTA; Chief Executive Officer, Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, NV

• Ward W. McCarragher, Vice President-Government Affairs and Advocacy, American Public Transportation Association, Washington, DC
• Lynda Tran, Board Member, STV Incorporated, Washington, DC
• Paul Kincaid, Associate Administrator for Communications and Congressional Affairs, Federal Transit Administration, Washington, DC

Breakouts – Building a Ballot Measure: Planning, Policy, & Preparation (Panel A)

This panel discussion will feature transit agency professionals and partners who focus on how transit agencies can help put their communities in the best position for successful ballot measures. Topics covered will include increasing agency reputation in the lead up to a measure, community engagement in the policy development process, and educational campaigns during the ballot initiative process.

• Nichole Jordan, SVP, Public Policy & Community Affairs, Remix, San Francisco, CA

• Brandy Lynn Jones, Vice President of External Affairs, Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority(SORTA)/Metro, Cincinnati, OH
• Zachary A Hernandez, Director of Analytics, AlphaVu, Washington, DC
• Henry Li, General Manager/CEO, Sacramento Regional Transit District, Sacramento, CA

Breakouts – Building a Ballot Measure: Planning, Policy, & Preparation (Panel B)

This panel discussion will feature professionals with expertise in equity, housing, and anti-displacement. Panelists will discuss prioritizing equity in the development of transportation policy through a variety of techniques including first-last mile solutions, community engagement, and more. Anti-displacement policy and affordable housing will be a large focus, and local panelists will tell the story of equity in Project Connect, including Prop A’s historic $300 million investment in anti-displacement measures.

• John-Michael Cortez, former Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Adler, Austin, TX

• Nefertitti Jackmon, Community Displacement Prevention Officer, City of Austin, Austin, TX
• Jenn Golech, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Austin, TX

Keynote Session

Hear from a mayoral roundtable that have recently, or presently, undertaken public transit ballot measures. Mayors will each give 15 min of remarks, followed by a 30 min panel discussion on the importance of elected leadership in the ballot initiative process and the role of an elected champion in campaign materials.

• Joshua Cohen, Executive Director, APTA Center for Transportation Excellence, Washington, DC

• Mayor Kate Gallego, City of Phoenix; Vice Chair, Valley Metro, Mesa, AZ
• Mayor Steve Adler, City of Austin, Austin, TX
• Mayor Quinton Lucas, City of Kansas City, MO, Kansas City, MO

Grab and Go Lunch

Spotlight on Austin

This panel will give our hosts in Austin time to discuss how they built their successful Prop A campaign, spotlighting professionals from Capital Metro who worked on Project Connect, advocates and politicos from the Prop A campaign, elected leaders who championed the process from start to finish, and more.

• Samantha Baez, EVP Experience & Engagement, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Austin, TX

• Dottie L. Watkins, CEO, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Austin, TX
• Mykle Tomlinson, President, Y Strategy LLC, Austin, TX
• Bill McCamley, Executive Director, Transit Forward, Austin, TX
• Gregory Canally, Executive Director, Austin Transit Partnership, Austin, TX

Breakouts - Messengers and Messaging: How to Build Your Team & Your Pitch for a Successful Campaign (Panel A)

Transit brings together business, labor, environment, and more. This panel discussion will focus on how to meaningfully engage diverse community groups and build a strong, representative coalition throughout the planning process that will prove a valuable resource during the campaign, featuring representatives from agencies, transit organizations, business, and other stakeholder groups.

• Arthur L. Guzzetti, Vice President – Mobility Initiatives and Public Policy, American Public Transportation Association, Washington, DC

• Arezou C. Jolly, Immediate Past-Chair of the Board, Jacksonville Transportation Authority, Jacksonville, FL
• DeAnna Martin, Chief Of Staff, King County Metro , Seattle, WA
• Tina Bui, Local Government & Public Affairs Consultant, Transit for Austin / Tina Bui Consulting, Austin, TX
• Rachael Kobb, Vice President, Public Affairs, Orlando Economic Partnership, Orlando, FL

Breakouts - Messengers and Messaging: How to Build Your Team & Your Pitch for a Successful Campaign (Panel B)

To win at the ballot box, campaigns need to appeal to non-riders as well as riders. As transit professionals, we know that transit carries our essential workers, tackles congestion, and supports a larger mobility system; our job in a campaign is to tell that story in a way those outside of transit understand. In this panel, you will hear from a team of campaign experts and politicians on how to develop a message that breaks through to non-transit voters and sells the benefits of public transportation to a broad audience.

• Lynda Tran, Board Member, STV Incorporated, Washington, DC

• Tony Cani, Founder, Slingshot Campaigns, LLC, Phoenix, AZ
• Yusef Robb, Senior Advisor, Accelerator for America, Los Angeles, CA
• Reggie Cardozo, CEO, The Public Square LLC, Tallahassee, FL

CFTE Resources: How We Can Help

November 2022: What to Watch
Team CFTE previews the biggest measures to watch on this year’s ballot and beyond, delving into the common messages, themes, and roadblocks upcoming campaigns are facing.

Reception

Wednesday, July 20

Continental Breakfast

Registration

General Session: Looking Back, Looking Ahead

• 8-8:10: Pete Metz (Cincinnati)
• 8:10-8:20: John Bailey (San Antonio)
• 8:20-8:30: Lynn Peterson (Portland)
• 8:30-8:40: Laura Koprowski (Toledo)
• 8:40-8:50: Bemetra Simmons (Tampa)

9:05 a.m.-9:45 a.m.: This panel will focus on what we can learn from other sectors in the transformative impacts of community leadership in ballot measure design and planning. 

• Sean Soendker Nicholson, Principal, GPS Impact, Des Moines, IA
• Aaron Brown, Co-Founder, Oregon Transportation Futures Project, Portland, OR

Breakouts - The Last Mile: Delivering the Win & Beyond (Panel A)

This panel discussion will focus on how campaigns can run on and deliver policy improvements in the short-term, like improvements to the bus network, either in place of or along with large capital improvements. Panelists will include representatives from communities who have run successful measures on both long-term and short-term investments, as well as communities who have run successful measures that omitted new capital investments almost entirely. Focus areas will include campaign messaging focused on writers as well as policy logistics for preparing to win and deliver to constituents quickly.

• Ian Moor, Campaign Director, APTA Center for Transportation Excellence, Washington, DC

• Pete Metz, Manager, Transportation Initiatives, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, Cincinnati, OH
• Patrick Rose, Board Chair, Transit Forward, Austin, TX
• Bemetra Simmons, President and CEO, Tampa Bay Partnership, Tampa, FL

Breakouts - The Last Mile: Delivering the Win & Beyond (Panel B)

Join campaign managers and professionals behind some of the biggest recent transit victories and some of this year’s upcoming campaigns for a session focused on the final months of the campaign. You have spent years preparing for this moment. You have engaged the public and civic leaders, developed a plan, built a coalition, finalized ballot language, and raised money. What do you need to do to win? Speakers will dive deep into campaign strategy, planning, spending, and more.

• Mykle Tomlinson, President, Y Strategy LLC, Austin, TX
• Reggie Cardozo, CEO, The Public Square LLC, Tallahassee, FL
• Luke Martin, Vice President, Impact Research, Washington, DC
• Nick Mildebrath, Partner, Convergence Targeted Communications, Washington, DC

Campaign Workshop/Hack-A-Thon

Join CFTE, speakers from throughout the weekend, and fellow attendees in an informal hack-a-thon session, where you can bring outstanding questions from the weekend, work through campaign and policy issues with the group, or just listen and soak in even more lessons from our wonderful transit community.