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India L. Birdsong joins RTA as Chief Executive Officer and General Manager beginning Monday, Sept. 16.

She comes to Greater Cleveland from Nashville where she served as Chief Operating Officer of WeGo Public Transit, the Regional Transportation Authority. In that role, she was responsible for the leadership of more than 550 employees, including union and administrative staffers. She led all bus and rail operations and oversaw two garages and maintenance shops, a commuter rail line and a downtown transfer central hub. She was also instrumental in supporting the system’s 25-year strategic growth plan.

Before joining the Nashville system in 2015, Birdsong spent nine years with the Chicago Transit Authority where she held a variety of roles, including senior manager of bus supervision and instruction for the Central Region, leading operations for a CTA Operating Division, bus operator instruction, and special events planning. She began her career there as an operations planner.

Birdsong is an active member in several industry organizations, including the American Public Transportation Association, Transit Cooperative Research Program, and Conference of Minority Transportation Officials.

Proficient in Spanish, Birdsong earned her Masters in Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her Bachelor of Arts from Temple University in Philadelphia.