Townes brings 35 years of experience in transportation and public transit. He has served in the public transportation industry’s top policy position as chair of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Executive Committee, representing more than 400 public transit organizations in the U.S. and Canada. Townes also has held other national industry leadership positions, including chair of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Executive Committee as well as chair of the Mineta Transportation Institute board of trustees. Additionally, he is recognized as one of the transit industry’s top legislative advocates and has testified numerous times before Congress and other legislative bodies.
Prior to joining HNTB, Townes worked as national transit services leader for CDM Smith. Previous to that, he was president and CEO of Hampton Roads Transit in Virginia, where he led an organization of more than 900 employees with an annual capital budget of $85 million and transitioned the organization from a 130-bus operation to a 260-bus/multimodal operation. He also implemented a highly successful major merger of two transit systems located in Hampton-Newport News and Norfolk, Va.
In addition to his leadership roles with APTA, TRB, and the Mineta Transportation Institute, Townes has been active with leadership positions in a number of industry associations and organizations, including the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials, Transportation Cooperative Research Program, Virginia Transportation Association, Virginia High Speed Rail Development Committee, Governor’s Commission on Climate Change, Eno Transportation Foundation, and the Hampton Roads Public Transportation Alliance.
Townes holds a Master of Urban and Regional Planning and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Virginia Commonwealth University.
“As someone who has delivered multimillion dollar projects and helped shaped policy, Michael is a nationally recognized transit leader with a unique understanding of both the opportunities and challenges within our industry,” said HNTB Corp. CEO Rob Slimp, P.E. “Michael will lead our team of transit professionals and ensure the firm’s commitment to addressing the growing needs of today’s transit agencies, ranging from bus rapid transit to intercity passenger rail to high speed rail, and other forms of public mobility.”
HNTB is currently involved with many of the nation’s most high-profile transit programs, including the Los Angeles Metro Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor, Charlotte Area Transit System’s LYNX Blue Line in North Carolina, and the Bay Area Rapid Transit Warm Springs Extension in San Francisco.