Savannah, Ga.’s Chatham Area Transit (CAT) selected Bacarra Sanderson Mauldin as its new CEO/Executive Director. Mauldin currently serves as director, policy and innovation, with the New Orleans RTA.

Mauldin is a senior executive with 15 years of diverse experience in public transit, public administration, municipal government, grants administration, and business operations. She brings to CAT the unique perspective of having been a transit CEO and a transit board member on two different boards.

As a senior New Orleans RTA team member, she developed policies for the authority’s newly recreated structure and recommended innovative solutions to increase operational efficiency. Major accomplishments included designing an innovative paratransit and microtransit service model that RTA submitted for the FTA-sponsored Mobility for All pilot grant program; developing a federal grants strategy to fund future innovation; serving as a vendor liaison for operations technology systems; successfully negotiating training to increase operational efficiency; and launching a non-emergency medical transportation taskforce that included community stakeholders and has inspired the design of a new RTA Alternative Modes Division.

Prior to her role at RTA, Mauldin served as executive director for the Birmingham Regional Paratransit Consortium where, after having served on its board for three years, she managed its fleet of 46 vehicles and its annual budget of $5 million. She is active in both APTA and COMTO and has also held leadership positions and received numerous association and civic awards for her service and accomplishments.

Mauldin is expected to begin work at CAT on June 29.