Vice Chair

John Launius

John Launius, Director of Regional Economic Development – Greater Louisville Inc.

As Director of Regional Economic Development, John works directly with local economic development officials in our 15-county bi-state market to attract private investment through GLI’s Greater Louisville Regional Partnership. John manages cross-sector business attraction efforts and represents the Greater Louisville region in a variety of capacities.  

John joined GLI in early 2017 after nearly 8 years at Volunteers of America Mid-States, a multi-state behavioral health agency. John served as the Director of Program Development where he maintained and expanded public funding relationships and led the agencies local, state and federal government relations.

John has been named Business First’s 20 People to Know in Economic Development and is a Leadership Louisville Center 2015 and 2018 Bingham Fellow. He has previously served on the boards of the Fuller Center for Housing and Mama to Mama. John is co-founder of the Veterans Community Alliance of Louisville, Sherby – Derby Eve Neighborhood Festival, and Kentucky’s Largest Disco Ball. John and his wife, Carly, live in the Clifton Neighborhood and welcomed their first child in March, Lucy.

John attended Southeast Missouri State University for undergraduate studies and graduate school at the University of Notre Dame, Mendoza College of Business.

Charles “Chuck” Rogers

Chuck Rogers was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) in August 2012, where he serves on the Customer Relations Committee. Chuck is a disabled veteran, having served in the United States Air Force, who has been a disability advocate in the Louisville Metro area for more than 30 years.

Chuck graduated from the University of Louisville, School of Arts and Sciences, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology in 1990, and the University of Louisville Justice B. Brandeis School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree in 1995. He is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Chuck has been employed as a Staff Attorney at the Kentucky Court of Justice since April 1996, and presently works for Judge Susan Schultz Gibson in Jefferson Circuit Court.

Chuck serves on the Louisville Metro ADA Task Force. He is the former president and vice-president of the Metro Disability Coalition (“MDC”), and currently serves as a board member of the MDC. Chuck also serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for Accessible Living, where he serves as the chair of the Advocacy Committee.

Chuck has also served on the City of Louisville ADA Advisory Board, the Jefferson County ADA/Section 504 Advisory Board, the Kentucky Derby Festival Disability Focus Group and the KATS Network Board of Directors, where he served as chair for two years. He has been involved with the grassroots advocacy effort of the Louisville Metro Sweep for Access, which advocated for businesses to be accessible in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).

Chuck is a member of the Kentucky Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Louisville Bar

Association, the Kentucky-Indiana Chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Kentuckiana Chapter of the Spinal Cord Injury Association.

Chuck has received the following awards and recognition: Strathmore Who’s Who, 2013; Madison Who’s Who, 2013; the Metro Disability Coalition, Breaking Barriers Nancy Durham Disability Advocacy Award, 2006; the Louisville Metro Mayor’s Citation, April 2003; the Kentucky Disabilities Coalition, Arthur Campbell, Jr., Award, 2000; the Kentucky Regional DBTAC Achieving Distinguished Attitudes Award, 1999; the Jefferson County Fiscal Court Honored Volunteer, 1998; and the University of Louisville Disabled Alumnus of the Year, 1997.

Alice K. Houston

Alice K. Houston graduated from the Louisville public school system in 1964.  She received her diploma from Baldwin Wallace College in 1968; and she attended Vanderbilt University on a Danforth Foundation Fellowship in Latin American History. Alice left Vanderbilt in 1969 to marry Wade Houston. The two lived in France, where her husband played and coached basketball in Strasbourg.

Upon returning to the United States, Alice began a long and successful association and career at the University of Louisville. She left the university in 1988 to join a series of family businesses, which collectively became the second largest minority-owned company in the United States, and the largest minority-owned transportation company in North America. In 2001, Alice divested of her interests to concentrate her attention to developing HJI Supply Chain Solutions. She became President and CEO in 2005.  During the ensuing years, HJI became a preferred supplier of material fulfillment, sequencing, assembling, and logistic services, and won the 2011 TSMSDC “Supplier of the Year Award”.

Aside from her business interests, Alice enjoys working in the community. She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Urban League, a past Chair of Greater Louisville, Inc., and was honored as Louisvillian of the Year in 2008. She currently serves on the following boards: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 55,000 Degrees and 15K Degree Initiative, Simmons College of Kentucky, Louisville Arena Authority, the James Graham Brown Foundation,   Transit Authority of River City (TARC), Greater Louisville Project, University of Louisville Foundation,  and Greater Louisville Inc. Alice is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, LINKS, Inc., Girl Friends, Inc., and a Trustee at Green Castle Baptist Church. Of all her activities, however, she is most proud of being married to Wade, and being the mother of Allan, Lynn, Natalie, and “Mema” to her fifteen grandchildren.

Ted Smith

Ted Smith was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) in April 2019. Ted is an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology and deputy director of the Environment Institute at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. His research program is focused on the personal, social and natural environmental factors that may modify cardio-metabolic disease risk. A second area of focus is the development of new models and frameworks for translating scientific knowledge to the lay public, healthcare industry, and policy makers.  Previously Ted served as CEO of Revon Systems which developed digital therapeutics for autonomous triage of pulmonary exacerbations. Ted also served as Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Louisville Kentucky where he created the largest real time asthma surveillance research program AIRLouisville.

Ted received his B.S. in Biology and Psychology from Allegheny College, his M.S. and PhD in Experimental Psychology from Miami University and completed his post-doctoral studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Man Vehicle Laboratory. Ted was co-investigator on Neurolab space shuttle mission.

John Clay Stites

JC Stites is Founder and CEO of Autodemo LLC, a video marketing company that shows how technology works. Over the past 20 years, Autodemo’s clients have included Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, Ebay and Google. Mr. Stites’ love for Louisville has lead to civic work related to transportation and parks. In 2005 he co-founded 8664.org, a grassroots organization to promote a cheaper alternative to the $2.6 Billion Ohio River Bridges Project. The unsuccessful effort would have torn down the city’s elevated waterfront expressway. Mr. Stites has served on the board of Olmsted Parks Conservancy and Transit Authority of River City. He is a proud supporter of his wife’s efforts to create a culture of health, by founding the Smoketown Family Wellness Center in one of Louisville’s most historic and underserved neighborhoods. Mr. Stites is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Portland State University (MBA).

Carla Dearing

Carla Dearing was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) in early 2020.

Carla is a partner at Velo Group, which provides consulting services on strategy, growth and capital raising. Carla started her career at Morgan Stanley & Co. and went on to become a three-time founder. Most recently, she was founding CEO of Sum180, a financial lifestyle app, which was acquired in April, 2019 by FlexWage Solutions, where Carla serves as Head of Product. Carla graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan and she holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business.

Gary Dryden

Executive Director

Carrie Butler

Carrie Butler is the new Executive Director for TARC, the Transit Authority of River City, in Louisville, Kentucky. Her role includes overseeing the agency’s $80 million operating budget and over 600 employees providing nearly 14,000 trips per day over 20 routes throughout the KIPDA region. Since 2014, Ms. Butler served as General Manager of Lextran in Lexington, Kentucky. She is President of the Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition, and has previously served on the Planning Commission and Lexington’s Senior Services Commission.

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. She developed her passion for public transportation during her Fellowship from the Florida Department of Transportation where she worked for Miami-Dade Transit and Star Metro in Tallahassee. Previously at TARC in 2010, she managed the Department of Planning and Scheduling. While 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 is a highly motivated, energetic transit executive with 20 years’ experience in the field of transportation and urban planning. Her broad base in the industry ranges from executive leadership and management, service and long-term regional planning, and a current focus on sustainable business practices and high return on investment innovations.

Assistant Executive Director

Randy Frantz

Randy is a Louisville, KY native and a graduate of Northwood University. After a nationwide search, he was selected to be TARC’s new Assistant Executive Director and joined the team in July of 2019.

As Assistant Executive Director he serves as second in command to the Executive Director. He assists in the planning, organizing, and administration of all TARC activities and functions. He provides support and builds relationships with stakeholders and the public, oversees operations, assists with the development of both short and long-range plans, and assists in the development and enforcement of rules, regulations, and policies.

Frantz attended the Leadership Development Course, GE Global Learning, and is a graduate of the Leadership Louisville class of 2019. He is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Family Scholar House.

General Counsel

Pat Mulvihill

Pat is a life-long resident of Louisville, Kentucky. Pat has a B.S. in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a Juris Doctor from the University of Louisville.  He became part of the TARC team on September 15, 2020.  He joins TARC following in the footsteps of his late mother, Mary Margaret Mulvihill, who was instrumental in helping to create TARC and proudly served as a Board Member for several years.

As General Counsel, Pat’s role is to assist, work on and seek to resolve legal matters that pertain to TARC. He also serves as the Open Records Request Custodian and Coordinator on behalf of the agency.

Pat currently serves as Louisville Metro Councilman for District 10 and in conjunction with that office serves on the Louisville Zoo Foundation Board and Louisville Police Retirement Fund Board.

Director of Customer Experience

Jessica Holman

Jessica is a Louisville, KY native. After living out of state for several years, she returned to Louisville to join the TARC team in 2011. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts, and Spalding University with a Master’s Degree in Business Communication.

As Director of Customer Experience she represents the passenger’s needs and interests at the leadership level. She works to improve customer communications, and partners with multiple departments, organizations and communities throughout the region in pursuit of these goals.

Holman currently serves on the 10th & Chestnut YMCA Board. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and Whisky Chicks social club. Other accomplishments include Downtown YMCA Board 2015-2020, 2016 TARC Black Achiever, Leadership Louisville – 2014 Ignite Louisville, and Friends of the Zoo 2009 – 2012. Jessica enjoys fitness training, traveling and spending time with family.

Director of Diversity & Inclusion

Dr. Tim Findley

Chief Financial Officer

Tonya Carter

Tonya is a Louisville, KY native, who joined the TARC team in 2002. She is a graduate of the University of Louisville with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting.

As Chief Financial Officer she is responsible for the overall financial management of the Transit Authority, which includes accounting, budgeting, payroll, grants, administration and coordination of auditing by independent contractors.

Carter has more than twenty-five years of combined education and experience performing progressively challenging responsibilities in finance, budgeting and accounting in various industries. She currently serves on the Metro Investment Council.

Director of Grants & Capital Programs

Geoffrey Hobin

Geoff joined the TARC team in 2004. He is a graduate of the University of Louisville with a Master of Public Administration degree.

As Director of Grants & Capital Programs he is responsible for administering TARC’s Federal and State grants, and for managing TARC’s Capital Programs.

Hobin has served on the boards of the Center for Neighborhoods, the Louisville Group of the Sierra Club, and the Louisville Metro Community Action Agency. Currently he serves as President of the Board of the Louisville Climate Action Network (LCAN).

Director of Human Resources

Kim Blanton

Kim joined the TARC team in 1990. She is a graduate of the University of Louisville with a Bachelors in Business Administration and HRCI/SHRM certification from Bellarmine University.

As Director of Human Resources she provides overall direction to the HR Department including staffing, recruitment, employee and labor relations and benefits.

Blanton has over 30 years in the Human Resources field, with extensive knowledge in rules and regulation compliance at local, state and federal levels, including Federal Transit Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. She has been a member of the Management Labor Negotiations team since 2004.

Director of Information Technology

Dwight Maddox Jr.

Dwight joined the TARC team in 1998 and has called Louisville home since he was 8 years old. He is a graduate of the University of Louisville School of Business.

As Director of Information Technology he is dedicated to leveraging technology in the improvement of Public Transit and committed to pioneering solutions that will help define TARC as a leader in the transit Industry.

Maddox is honored to be a member of the Board of Kosair Charities in Louisville and spends much of his spare time engaged in their mission of helping children in need.  Dwight is active in many local civic and fraternal organizations.  He and his wife Rebecca are both members of the Drepung Gomang Center for Engaging Compassion in Louisville.

Director of Maintenance

William Harris

William Harris joined the TARC team in 2006. He has a degree from Great Plains Vocational School in Automotive and Diesel Technology.

As Director of Maintenance he is responsible for managing the maintenance of all the buses, buildings, and support equipment.

Harris has served on a joint committee with the Department of Labor, American Public Transportation Association and The Learning Center. William also serves on The American Public Transportation Association Bus Roadeo Committee.

Director of Paratransit & Customer Service

Wanda Henderson

Wanda joined the TARC team in 2018. She is a graduate from Stockton University.

As Director of Paratransit & Customer Service she manages, organizes and monitors TARC’s Paratransit services while ensuring full compliance with ADA rules / regulations, and troubleshoots issues and concerns with both paratransit and customer service.

Henderson sharpened her leadership skills in the US Army as a Medical Service Officer in multiple positions including patient care, logistics, program development, training and management. Prior to her tour of duty in the US Army, Wanda was a certified Social Worker in NJ where she work and served as an advocate in her community in the fight against HIV/AIDS as Chief Case Manager and Substance Abuse Counselor.

Director of Planning

Aida Copic

Aida joined the TARC team in 2010. She is a graduate from the University of Sarajevo with a degree in Civil Engineering.

As Director of Planning she manages TARC’s current and long-range planning efforts, oversees service planning and scheduling, and on-street infrastructure improvements.

Copic is a member of several professional organizations, AICP, APTA, APA and APA KY Chapter, ULI and TCRP. She is involved in a number of community-wide regional and local transportation projects and development initiatives and has experience in Transportation and Land Use Planning, Project Management, Strategic Planning, Civil Engineering, Funding and Grants applications, Pedestrian Planning, and Urban Design.

Director of Purchasing

Maria Harris

Director of Transportation

Michelle Bartoszek

Michelle joined the TARC team in 2019.

As Director of Transportation she is responsible for the oversight of and has ultimate responsibility for the mobility operations of TARC including all fixed route service delivery models, ensuring TARC services meet the highest standards possible in customer service, efficiency, and effectiveness.

Bartoszek has over 15 years of experience in logistics management. As a transit system Transportation Manager for Southern Indiana, U.S Army Transportation Manager, and then Senior Transportation Manager, she has a wealth of experience and training with various service delivery models. She has three wartime deployments where she received numerous awards for her transportation expertise. Michelle has a passion for helping people in her community by volunteering her time at the YMCA as a wellness coach.

Director of Safety & Security

Lorri Lee

Lorri joined the TARC team in 2019. She is a graduate of Stockton State College with a Bachelor’s degree.

 As Director of Safety & Security she ensures TARC customers receive the safest service possible, she is responsible for developing, implementing and maintaining Authority wide safety and security programs.

Director of Marketing & Communication

Eric King

Eric joined the TARC team in 2020. He is a graduate of the University of Louisville, and the Diversity Executive Leadership Academy.

As Director of Marketing & Communication he is responsible for overseeing the direction of all TARC marketing functions, including the strategic direction of internal & external communications, advertising, and ensuring positive relationships with organizational stakeholders and the media.

King brings with him more than 15 years of broadcast journalism experience, 3 Emmy Awards, an Edward R. Murrow award and many years of communications strategy experience.