Traverse City, Mich.’s Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA) announced the succession of Executive Director Kelly Dunham, who will transition from BATA at the end of 2024 after 15 years with the organization. 

Dunham joined BATA in 2009 as the human resources manager and also served as the transit agency’s director, human resources and operations, before earning the role of BATA’s executive director in 2016, and has been successfully leading the organization for the last eight years. 

“With an education in organizational development and tasked with helping to turn the ship around, I joined BATA because it was in dire straits, nearing bankruptcy, with a poor brand externally and a terrible culture internally,” said Dunham. “Today, BATA is a thriving organization that is respected in the community as a valued partner providing critical services, has high customer satisfaction, high employee satisfaction, and is financially stable, with a new state of the art facility to run operations from for decades to come. I’ve completed everything I’ve set out to achieve, and I truly feel the time is right to make this transition.”

Dunham’s Milestones at BATA

Dunham helped revolutionize BATA by reinventing its brand, finding and hiring new personnel, and transforming its service delivery model from a traditional dial-a-ride service to a hybrid fixed-route and on-demand transportation system. 

During her time at BATA, Dunham and her team accomplished many significant milestones including:

• Planning and building BATA’s new state-of-the-art operations headquarters by securing more than $23 million in federal and state grant funds. This project also has the distinction of being one of the first transit-oriented development projects in the region combining affordable housing and public transportation and addressing two of the community’s biggest needs.

• Showcasing BATA’s community value by highlighting the role public transportation plays in providing essential transportation for students, workers, seniors, and people with disabilities. 

• Creating BATA’s first fare-free high-frequency route, the Bayline, that was developed collaboratively with community partners to meet the year-round transportation needs of both residents and visitors.

• Growing the organization to providing more than 400,000-plus rides annually and guiding the transition from a rural transit agency to a small urban agency positioning BATA for future growth to meet community needs.

• Securing BATA’s first local millage increase in more than 14 years in 2017 to meet growing public transportation demand, and again renewing that millage in 2022 at more than 60% support.

• Developing a performance-based culture within the organization and hiring a strong team of professionals positioned to provide the best service possible to the community.

• Creating financial stability for BATA by establishing the transit agency’s first capital and operational reserve funds.

• Embracing new technologies to improve operational efficiencies and reduce barriers for people to use public transit by adding real-time bus tracking and implementing mobile technologies to make it easier to navigate BATA’s services. BATA’s vehicle fleet has become more environmentally friendly with the addition of propane and electric powered vehicles.

Dunham’s Transition 

Dunham’s new role keeps her in the community where she will serve as the chief culture officer on the executive leadership team at 4Front Credit Union. 

With her departure, Dunham will support the BATA board with recommendations for an interim director and an executive search firm.