Mayor makes Metro appointments

Only one change, but it’s a big one.

Mayor Sylvester Turner has nominated Teresa “Terry” R. Morales to serve in Position 5 of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) board of directors, for a term that expires April 7, 2020.

The METRO board consists of nine members. Five are nominated by the Mayor of Houston and confirmed by Houston City Council. Two are appointed by the mayors of METRO’s 14 other member cities and two are appointed by the Harris County Commissioners Court.

Morales is a Senior Vice President of Amegy Bank in the Corporate Banking Division. She is involved in various internal group activities including the Amegy PAC, the Diversity & Inclusion Steering Committee, and the Amegy Women’s Initiative Diversity Markets Committee.

She replaces Christof Spieler whose term expired April 7, 2018.

Morales is a native Houstonian and grew up in Houston’s East End. She earned a BBA in Finance from the University of Houston, and is also a graduate of Leadership Houston and the Center for Houston’s Future. Her involvement in the community includes being a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum Class XXXIV, and an active role in several community organizations.

“Terry’s background in business combined with her community involvement make her an exceptional addition to the METRO board,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said. “As roads get more crowded, more Houstonians are ready to start using transit, but we have to make it more efficient and more convenient by building connections to destinations in high demand.”

Mayor Turner also announced his intention to reappoint four current METRO board members whose terms will expire April 7, 2020.

  • Lex Frieden, position one
  • Sanjay Ramabhadran, position two
  • Troi Taylor, position three
  • Carrin F. Patman, position four

Houston city council is scheduled to vote Wednesday, July 11, on the mayor’s appointments.

You can see the current Board here. Christof Spieler was and is a visionary and probably the most knowledgeable person about transit and transportation the Board has ever had. The bus system reimagining was his baby. All things come to an end, and if we’re lucky he’ll get back to blogging about transit now that he’s free to talk about this sort of thing in public again.

Ms. Morales comes onto a Board that has gotten a lot done in the past few years and which now has the challenge of defining and selling a vision for the future to its constituents. I wish her and her returning colleagues all the best with that task, and I wish Christof all the best in his post-Metro life.

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4 Responses to Mayor makes Metro appointments

  1. AstrosFan says:

    Spieler was kicked off the board in retaliation for being outspoken on flooding issues, basically having the effect of high lighting what a terrible job Sylvester is doing. Can’t have that. Got to go, Mr. Spieler.

  2. AstrosFan – From the Metro bylaws:

    “Section 2. Number and Tenure. The Board consists of nine (9) members, five appointed by the mayor of the City of Houston and confirmed by its City Council, two appointed by the Commissioners Court of Harris County and two appointed jointly by the mayors of the other incorporated municipalities within the boundaries of the Authority. The term of office of the members of the Board is two years, except that no individual may serve more than eight years and no individual may be appointed to a term for which service to the completion of the term would exceed eight years [Tex. Transp. Code Ann. §§ 451.505 – .506 (West Supp. 2012)]. Each Board member continues to serve until his or her successor has been appointed and qualified.”

    Spieler was appointed by Mayor Parker in March of 2010, so he served for a full eight-year tenure, and was statutorily required to be replaced this year. I don’t know where you heard that scurrilous rumor, but it is 100% wrong.

  3. Just another UH alumni that can’t figure out paid parental leave

  4. Kenneth Fair says:

    Agreed about hoping to see Spieler blog again. I’ve missed Intermodality.

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