Beverly A. Scott, General Manager, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority; and Administrator, MA Department of Transportation, Rail and Transit Division, is the 2014 recipient of the Sharon D. Banks Award for Humanitarian Leadership in Transportation.
The Sharon D. Banks Award recognizes innovative and successful leadership in people-oriented initiatives in transportation, sustained over an extended period of time, that exemplify Banks’ ideals of humanity and service. The award goes beyond general managerial excellence, focusing on accomplishments in areas such as the education, training, and mentoring of
transportation professionals; community-sensitive facilities and services; or comparable people-oriented initiatives. This award was established by TRB with the encouragement and support of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). Other contributors to the award, in addition to TRB and USDOT, include the American Public Transportation Association, AC Transit, the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials, and the California Transit Association. Recipients are chosen by a selection committee appointed by the Chairman of the TRB Executive Committee.
Scott’s attention to the “personal aspects of the decisions she makes and the impact of those decisions on the lives of those who depend on public transit for their livelihood” is core to her recognition as a people-oriented transit manager. She is honored for her long attention to “diversity, fairness, and equity” and for her tireless “efforts to improve the lives of others.” With a “passion for professional development,” Scott is a long time mentor of staff and students, many of which are now in public transportation leadership and management positions. Scott’s ideals of humanity and service will have “a lasting impact on the lives of many.”
Scott is known throughout the North American transit industry for her visionary leadership, results driven management style, and progressive approach to labor management relations. Scott was recently named a “Transportation Innovator of Change” by President Barack Obama and appointed to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) for her long record of exemplary
leadership and service in the transportation industry. She serves as the NIAC Vice Chair.
Scott’s career in the public transportation industry spans more than three decades and includes executive or senior leadership positions with some of the nation’s largest public transit systems. In addition, Scott has served as executive director of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators and as Assistant Professor of Government and Public Affairs at Tennessee State University. Scott has a Ph.D. in political science, with a specialization in public administration, from Howard University; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Fisk University. Active in TRB for more than 18 years, Scott is a former member of the TRB Executive Committee and has served as chair or member of other TRB committees and Transit Cooperative Research Program panels. She currently serves as Chair of Rail~Volution, and on the board of directors for Reconnecting America, the Transportation Learning Center, and Americans for Transit.
This Transportation Research Board (TRB) award, which may be conferred
biennially, was established in memory of Sharon Banks, who was the
General Manager of AC Transit, Oakland, California, from 1991 until her
death in 1999. She chaired the TRB Executive Committee in 1998. Scott received the award on January 15, 2014 at the TRB 93rd Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
This Summary Last Modified On: 3/2/2023