November 2021 - 26

Elena Daempfle started out at Transdev
Services Inc. in 2011 as controller and grants
manager for Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE
Bus) in Nassau County, N.Y. She was promoted
twice during her tenure at NICE Bus before moving
to regional and then national roles within
Transdev U.S., NICE Bus's contracted operator.
Elena
Daempfle, CPA
Vice President
of Finance
Transdev Services, Inc.
As controller, she prepared and analyzed
monthly financial reports and as grants manager,
she oversaw federal grants generating
some $15 to $20 million annually. She was
then promoted to director of finance of the
Nassau County operation in 2013. Here, she
oversaw financial controls and performance
metrics; managed multiple functions including
procurement, payroll, accounts payable and
financial and capital planning; and was responsible
for all federal and state financial reporting.
She was also a major player in budgeting,
including planning, developing, managing and
analyzing budgets, along with action plans to
improve any service or performance issues.
One noteworthy innovation was her creation
of the financial plan to consolidate
two bus depots, achieving $2.5 million in
annual savings. In addition, Daempfle managed
the Triennial FTA Reviews, instituting
a new process that resulted in near-perfect
audits. Another innovation was daily tracking
of fares and ridership, which helped the
When I heard Nassau County
was taking an innovative
approach to their transit
system, NICE, and entering
into a public-private operating
partnership (PPOP) with
Transdev Services, I jumped at the
opportunity to join the team. "
operations team better manage the system.
In 2018, Daempfle was promoted and assumed
responsibility of financial affairs for additional
contracts in the Northeast Region including
Hudson Link, Transport of Rockland in Rockland
County N.Y., Boston Public Schools and a contract
with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority for non-emergency medical transportation.
In March 2021, she was promoted to vice
president of Finance for Transdev's U.S. transit
operations where she monitors financial and
operational performance for some 80 contracts
that Transdev manages across the country.
Fast Fact: Daempfle has previously volunteered
in juvenile detention centers and has
helped low-income people secure competent
tax preparation.
MassTransitmag.com/21246400
Annie
Dixon
Planner I
Indianapolis
Metropolitan
Planning
Organization
(IMPO)
While she completed the usual intern
responsibilities during her initial stint with the
Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority
(CIRTA), Annie Dixon also demonstrated
vision, insight and leadership. After completing
two internships, Dixon was hired as a travel demand
planner-a permanent position that was
created to retain her. When her supervisor left
CIRTA 10 months later, Dixon was promoted
to mobility manager where she continued her
work investigating the feasibility of new transit
routes, managing three workforce connector
operations, managing federal transportation
grants and local financial audit, and represented
CIRTA at meetings and discussions.
These efforts led her to be recruited by
the IMPO, where she started in her current
role as a planner 1 in January 2020. In
the 18 months since, she's helped develop
new bylaws and COVID-19 policies along
with transit-oriented development (TOD)
plans for Indianapolis' new bus rapid transit
Red Line and future Purple Line.
She aligned stakeholder interests and persevered
through politics by updating the
methodology of all three TOD strategic plans.
The IMPO has forwarded her work to the
Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan
Development to put them into action.
Now, she's helping lead a transit plan for
26 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | NOVEMBER 2021
The best part about being
surrounded by industry
professionals, partner
organizations and members of
the public, is that there is so much
to learn from all of their unique
viewpoints and experiences. "
Johnson County and a regional Coordinated
Public Transit Human Services Transportation
Plan. Despite the pandemic, Dixon worked
in a complete virtual capacity that leveraged
creative uses of surveys and polling software
to keep meetings engaging and informative.
As a graduate fellow with the National
Association of Development Organizations,
she researched options and drafted a proposal
for a consortium of native tribes in the
Prince William Sound Economic Development
District for establishing a ferry service
between Alaskan communities. Recently,
she accepted an appointment to the board
of the Urban Land Institute-Indiana.
Fast Fact: In college, Dixion created a
food-recovery program that reduced waste
and provided food for a local homeless shelter.
MassTransitmag.com/21246407
http://www.MassTransitmag.com/21246400 http://www.MassTransitmag.com/21246407 http://www.MassTransitmag.com
November 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2021
