Senior V.P. Clyde Hart honored at retirement

WASHINGTON The American Bus Association has announced the election of new board members, as well as a new chairman, vice chairman and treasurer.

In addition, the association announced the retirement of Clyde Hart, head of ABA government affairs and policy.

John Meier, president of Badger Bus and Coach in Madison, Wis., was chosen by ABA board members to be chairman for the next three years.

Don DeVivo, president of DATTCO, a diversified motorcoach and transportation company in New Britain, Conn., was picked as ABA vice chairman.

Craig Lentzsch, executive chairman of All Aboard America! Holdings in New Orleans, was chosen ABA secretary/treasurer.

Meier joined the ABA board in 2004 and served as ABA Marketplace chairman in 2008. The company he heads, Badger Bus and Coach, says it operates one of the largest and most modern motorcoach fleets in the Midwest. The 95-year-old company has 51 motorcoaches and buses, plus 90 school buses.

Meier previously was ABA vice chairman and succeeds Tom JeBran, whose term as chairman expired last month. JeBran is president of Bethlehem, Pa.-based Trans-Bridge Lines. He was elected to a new term on the ABA board and remains a member of the ABA executive committee by virtue of being immediate past chairman.

The ABA board added three new at-large members to the executive committee: Steve Haddad, president/CEO of Bieber Transportation; Gene Berardi Jr., president/CEO of Adirondack Trailways, and Stephanie Lee, president of Group Sales Box Office/Broadway.com/Broadway Across America.

Stephanie Lee is a travel segment ABA board member, and her elevation marks the first time a travel industry representative has been given a seat on the ABA executive committee.

The ABA said it changed its bylaws this year to permit a travel industry board member on the executive committee. Previously, only bus operator members could sit on the executive committee.

The change, the ABA said, reflects the association "commitment to travel and tourism and its significant importance to the motorcoach industry."

Two members joined the ABA board for three-year terms: Camilla Morris is manager of Oneonta (N.Y.) Bus Lines, and Terry Fischer is president of Transportation Charter Services in Orange, Calif.

Board member Bryan Cole, president of Super Holiday Tours in Orlando, Fla., was elected to a one-year term as ABA Marketplace advisory committee chairman. ABA Marketplace 2016 will be in Louisville, Ky., in early January.

Four members left the ABA board at the conclusion of their terms: Woody Blunt, Ron Eyre, Sara Hamlin and Bruce Neuharth.

Blunt, of Concord (N.H.) Coach Lines, and Eyre, of Eyre Bus, Tour and Travel in Glenelg, Md., were named honorary board members, recognizing their years of service to ABA. Both are former chairmen.

Hamlin is vice president of tourism at the Great Birmingham (Ala.) Visitors and Convention Bureau, and Neuharth is an industry consultant. At one time, he was president of Arrow Stage Lines in Norfolk, Neb., and later Gray Line of Nashville.

The ABA board and membership recognized JeBran at ABA Marketplace in St. Louis last month. He served three years as ABA chairman and three as vice chairman. JeBran remains chairman of the association governance committee.

Clyde Hart also was recognized during Marketplace.

During his 14 years at ABA, Hart functioned primarily as the associations chief lobbyist, holding the title of senior vice president for government affairs and policy.

He spent nearly 40 years in Washington, both in government and with ABA.

Before joining ABA in 2001, he served as administrator of the U.S. Maritime Administration. He was involved in carving out the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration at the USDOT in 1999, serving briefly as acting administrator as it was emerging.

Earlier, he was appellate litigation attorney for the Interstate Commerce Commission and then senior counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

In 2004, "The Hill" newspaper identified Hart as one of Washingtons 35 best association lobbyists, and in 2011 "Association Trends" magazine selected him as one of the most "effective association lobbyists."

Said ABA President and CEO Peter Pantuso of Hart: "The entire industry is indebted to Clyde for his tireless work at ABA, and during his many years in the Senate and at the regulatory agencies."