Joseph M. Swartz
Sr. Executive - Public Transportation and Passenger Rail Expertise
- Role
- Chief of Staff Director of Government and Community Affairs at Virginia Railway Express Vre
- Location
- Alexandria, VA, US
- LinkedIn followers
- 500 followers
About Joseph M. Swartz
Accomplished Senior Public Transportation Executive with experience overseeing complex…
Experience
Chief of Staff Director of Government and Community Affairs
Nov 2013 — Present · Alexandria, VA, US
As part of the Executive Leadership Team, serve as trusted strategic advisor to the CEO on local, state and federal policy issues and internal strategic and administrative initiatives. Maintain stakeholder relationships as point-of-contact for parent transportation commissions, the nine VRE member jurisdictions, and state agencies.Manage the Public Affairs and Government Relations departments including setting and communicating strategic goals and training staff. Represent VRE with stakeholder and other groups including the Commonwealth Transportation Board, Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA), and Transit Service Delivery Advisory Committee (TSDAC).Select Accomplishments:• Proposed and successfully lobbied for a legislative fix for an insurance/tax issue that was passed in the 2025 session and will save VRE about annually. • Conceptualized strategy to secure $92 million in SmartScale state funding to improve the Fredericksburg Line allowing for implementation of crucial projects essential to the long-term growth of the system. Strategy was later used to secure $128 million in additional grant funding for improvements on the Manassas Line.• Successfully led legislative initiative to create the first dedicated funding source for Commuter Rail in the Commonwealth leading to annual revenues of $15 million for operations and capital.• Spearheaded cross-functional internal management audit and implementation of recommendations as well as coordinated preparation for the last three Federal Transit Administration (FTA) triennial compliance reviews with no major findings. • Effectively argued a unique policy position to the TSDAC working group that was debating recommendations on changes to DRPT\'s operating grant program, avoiding a substantial loss of transit operating funding for VRE.
Education
George Mason University
Master of Public Administration - MPA
George Mason University
Bachelor of Science - BS
USDA Graduate School
Grants Management Certificate
Skills
- Transportation Engineering
- Lobbying
- Public Policy
- Conflict Resolution
- Data Analysis
- Contract Negotiation
- Policy Analysis
- Policy Evaluation
- Public Finance Management
- Strategic Planning
- Land Use
- Grant Management Software
- Public Transport
- Asset Management
- Regulatory Compliance, Reporting & Audits
- Grant Management
- Rail
- Office Management
- Contract Management
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Word, Excel & Powerpoint
- Policy
- Budget Creation & Administration
- Customer Service
- Problem Solving
- Program & Project Management
- Asset Managment
- Budgets
- Transportation Planning
- Transportation
- Security
- Rail Transport
- Project Management
- Microsoft Excel
- Market Research
- Transportation Legislation
- Communication
- Analytics
- Advocacy Campaigns
- Media Relations
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