Position:        Commuter Rail Coalition - Chief Executive Officer

‍Overview:  The Commuter Rail Coalition is seeking its next Chief Executive Officer to lead the organization through its next stage of growth and recognition. Specifically, the next CEO Leadership Mandate is summarized below:

• Develop and lead a unified legislative and regulatory agenda.

• Increase CRC's influence with policymakers and industry partners.

• Protect and strengthen the Coalition's trusted executive network.

• Elevate CRC's visibility and thought leadership.

• Help the Board guide CRC's long-term growth, governance, and organizational capacity.

Key Responsibilities:

Federal advocacy and government affairs

• Lead CRC's federal advocacy agenda in coordination with the Board, member agencies, retained lobbyists, and member government affairs staff.

• Build and maintain working relationships with Senate and House offices, committee staff, DOT, FRA, FTA, and other federal stakeholders.

• Represent CRC in Washington meetings, Hill visits, agency meetings, coalition discussions, and industry forums.

• Keep CRC positioned as a practical, credible voice for commuter rail funding, safety, regulatory, liability, workforce, technology, and operating issues.

• Coordinate regular government affairs calls with member representatives so CRC is not operating in a vacuum, and members understand where things stand.

• Work with CRC's lobbyists and legal advisors to prepare testimony, letters, policy papers, talking points, and responses to congressional or agency requests.

• Look for opportunities to partner with other organizations, such as U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Governors Association, AASHTO, where CRC's interests overlap, to amplify the CRC message beyond traditionally aligned industry partners.

Regulatory and policy work

• Monitor FRA, FTA, DOT, TSA, and other federal regulatory actions that affect commuter rail, by working with coalition member subject matter experts and advisors

• ‍Coordinate member input on rulemakings, guidance, safety advisories, waivers, and other regulatory matters.

• ‍Ensure CRC comments are timely, clear, technically sound, and useful to regulators.

• Maintain constructive relationships with FRA and FTA leadership and career staff.

• Make sure members receive practical updates that explain what a rule, proposed rule, or policy change means for operations.

Membership and member value

• Recruit and retain commuter rail operators and aligned industry members.

• Build strong relationships with member CEOs, general managers, government affairs leaders, operations leaders, legal teams, and affiliate members.

• Make sure members see a clear return on dues through advocacy, information, peer exchange, regulatory support, events, and access to industry expertise.

• Conduct regular outreach to current members, prospective members, and members who may not be fully engaged.

• Lead member orientations, town halls, webinars, peer discussions, and other practical forums for sharing information across the industry.

• Advise the Board on dues, sponsorships, member categories, and resource needs in a straightforward way.

Board support and governance

• Work closely with the Board Chair, Vice Chair, Executive Committee, Treasurer, and full Board.

• Prepare agendas, materials, decision items, and follow-up actions for Board meetings.

• Keep Board meetings focused on decisions, priorities, and accountability rather than simply reporting activity.

• Maintain regular communication with the Board between formal meetings.

• Ensure CRC meets basic association governance, financial, filing, and compliance expectations for a 501(c)(6) organization.

Communications and public voice

• Serve as a public voice for CRC and a practical communicator on commuter rail issues.

• Develop a member communications strategy to ensure members receive timely updates on policy alerts, website updates, social media content, press statements, op-eds, white papers, and other information.

• Use member examples and plain language to explain why commuter rail matters to riders, employers, communities, regional economies, environmental advocates and the national transportation network.

• Coordinate with communications contractors and member communications teams when CRC needs to amplify a message.

• Make sure CRC communications are useful to members and credible to outside audiences.

Financial and organizational management

• Develop an annual budget tied to the Board-approved work plan.

• Monitor dues revenue, sponsorship revenue, event performance, expenses, payables, reserves, and vendor costs.

• Work with the Treasurer, accountants, association management contractors, and other advisors to maintain sound financial controls.

• Efficiently manage CRC's contractors, including association management, lobbying, regulatory, legal, communications, event, administrative, website, database, and special project support.

• Clarify expectations for contractors and make sure CRC is getting value for the money it spends.

• Recommend staffing or contractor changes when the current model does not match the organization's needs.

Events, summits, peer visits, and industry education

• Oversee CRC's open events including but not limited to annual Commuter Rail Summit, Board meetings, member webinars, Passenger Rail Law Workshop, liability-related meetings, rail industry trips, and peer visits.

• Develop event content around the issues members are facing.

• Recruit strong speakers, moderators, agency leaders, federal representatives, and industry experts.

• Make CRC events useful for CEOs, executives, government affairs staff, legal teams, safety leaders, and affiliate members.

• Manage event budgets, sponsorships, registration strategy, marketing, run-of-show, speaker preparation, and follow-up.

• Use CRC events to build relationships, surface member issues, and support CRC's advocacy work.