Ambassadors

Image Keba Baldwin Director of Transportation and Central Garage, Prince George’s County Schools	Image Matt Berlin (NY) CEO of NYC School Bus Umbrella Services	Image Paul S. D’Andrade Executive Director for Fairfax County Public Schools Office of Transportation Services
Image Tim Farquer    Acting Superintendent for Williamsfield Schools	Image Elizabeth Fox Director of Auxiliary Services for the Johnson City Central School District	Image Jackie Hayes    Assistant Director of Contract Operations and Fleet for Boston Public Schools Department of Transportation
Image Ken Martinez    Transportation Manager for Salt Lake City School District	Image Donnie Owle    Cherokee Boys Club Service Manager	Image Gilbert Blue Feather Rosas    Director Sustainability & Adaptation for Modesto City Schools
Image Kenni Jean Schrader    Transportation Director for Three Rivers Community Schools	Image Katie Tiger    Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Air Quality Program Supervisor

Learn more about the Electric School Bus Ambassadors:

Keba Baldwin, Director of Transportation and Central Garage, Prince George’s County Schools, Upper Marlboro Maryland

Mr. Baldwin oversees 1260 school buses across 12 bus lots and 719 fleet vehicles.  School transportation services 85,000 students annually to over 220 schools in and out of the county.  Prince George’s County Schools has just begun its electrification of the school bus fleet. Currently, there are 10 electric school buses awaiting to be deployed with 11 anticipated before the end of the school year.

Matt Berlin, CEO of NYC School Bus Umbrella Services

Matt Berlin is the CEO of NYC School Bus Umbrella Services, a private, non-profit school bus company serving 800 school bus routes for New York City Public Schools and private schools in the New York Area.

NYCSBUS has been a leader in bus electrification in New York. It was funded by the state's energy research and development agency to develop New York's model elect if school bus depot. It is developing curriculum for electric bus operators and maintainers with Bronx Community College and WRI, and is establishing an electric bus training center in Queens, NY. And with the electric utility in New York is piloting automated load management and flexible grid connections to reduce the burden of electrification on the grid. NYCSBUS was a winner of the Smart Electric Power Alliance 2024 Transportation Power Player award.

Prior to his work at NYCSBUS, during the administration of NYC Mayor Bloomberg Matt ran the city's school bus office, he was the first general manager of the city's Citibike bike share system.

Paul S. D’Andrade, Executive Director for Fairfax County Public Schools Office of Transportation Services

Paul S. D’Andrade is a distinguished leader in transportation, boasting over 20 years of experience in mass transit and pupil transportation. As the Executive Director for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Office of Transportation Services, he oversees the safe transport of more than 147,000 students. Since joining FCPS in 2019, Paul has pioneered the transition to a fully electric fleet, encompassing around 2,000 vehicles. His leadership is marked by a profound commitment to safety and equity, ensuring his team effectively serves the diverse needs of the Fairfax County Public Schools community.

In his role at FCPS, Paul has been instrumental in driving forward a bold project to convert the school district's large fleet to 100% electric vehicles. His approach, deeply rooted in safety and equity, empowers his team to meet the varied transportation requirements of the students in Fairfax County with efficiency and care.

Tim Farquer, Acting Superintendent for Williamsfield Schools

Tim Farquer is a Senior Advisor within WRI's Electric School Bus Initiative. His main focus is technical assistance for school districts. He assists with other pillars of work as needed. He comes from a family of educators and has worked in public education for 25 years. He is also the administrative lead for the Bus-2-Grid Initiative and acting Superintendent for Williamsfield Schools.

Tim holds a Masters degree in Educational Leadership from Bradley University and an Educational Specialist degree from Western Illinois University.

He lives in Williamsfield, Illinois with his wife Nadine, sons Benjamin  and Cade, daughter Olivia and their various pets.

Elizabeth Fox, Director of Auxiliary Services for the Johnson City Central School District

Elizabeth Fox is the Director of Auxiliary Services for the Johnson City Central School District in New York State.  Starting as a school bus driver, she has been in the pupil transportation industry for the last 15 years, including 7 years as a director. She has been involved in implementing and piloting electric school buses in multiple school districts in her time as a director. She is passionate about providing efficient, reliable, high-quality, student centered services that support the educational mission and vision of her district. She enjoys collaborating with other departments, administrators, parents, and community partners to ensure the best outcomes for the students and staff. She is always looking for ways to improve the performance, sustainability, and innovation of the auxiliary services.

Elizabeth is a Master Instructor for the New York State Education Department and a member of the Pupil Advisory Committee. She is dedicated to ensuring the safety and well-being of NYS students on their daily commute on the school bus. She believes that the Electric School bus can serve as an educational tool that can offer students a first-hand experience with new technology and encourage them to be environmentally conscious citizens all while experiencing a zero-emission bus ride.

Jackie Hayes, Assistant Director of Contract Operations and Fleet for Boston Public Schools Department of Transportation

Jackie Hayes, Assistant Director of Contract Operations and Fleet, joined the Boston Public Schools Department of Transportation in 2020 to improve strategic management of Boston's transportation vendor, who oversees school bus operations and maintenance. Boston owns a fleet of over 700 buses across three yards, which transports 2,100 students each day to 225 schools, inside and outside of Boston. Jackie is leading electrification of Boston's school bus fleet. Boston successfully deployed a pilot with 20 electric buses in the winter of 2023 and has 18 additional buses on order for deployment during school year 2023-2024.  

Ken Martinez, Transportation Manager for Salt Lake City School District

Ken Martinez began as a school bus mechanic at the age of 21. By the mid 90’s he helped implement the first natural gas buses in the state of Utah. Ken advanced his career in pupil transportation from mechanic to shop foreman, then to fleet manager and is now the Transportation Manager at Salt Lake City School District. Ken was able to champion the idea of electric school buses to his district and in 2021 SLCSD received its first four electric buses, making it the first school district to implement electric school buses in the state of Utah. Now in the year 2023, SLCSD, under Ken’s direction, is operating 12 electric school buses with a sustainability goal of 75 electric buses by 2035. Pioneering electric buses in the state has allowed Ken the opportunity to share incites with others interested in electric school bus conversion across the country. His experience with electric school buses has been written about in many magazine articles. He accepted the award for The Small Public Fleet at the Green Bus Summit in 2022 presented by School Transportation News. Ken works closely with Utah Clean Cities and is excited to be an ambassador for WRI.  

Donnie Owle, Cherokee Boys Club Service Manager

Education: North Georgia Tech. Associates in Automotive Technology 1986

Experience: After Mr. Owle graduated from North GA Tech., he went straight to work at Mountain Ford in Bryson City, NC as a service manager and worked there from 1986-2006. In 2006 Donnie started his employment with the Cherokee Boys Club (CBC) and continues to work with CBC as service manager. During his time at CBC, Mr. Owle has been instrumental in transitioning the school bus fleet to alternative fuels like biodiesel. In 2007 he converted all school buses over to a B20 blend (20% biodiesel and 80% diesel), which is what the school bus fleet currently runs. Then in 2012, Mr. Owle and Mrs. Tiger collaborated and installed a biodiesel production facility that produces biodiesel from used cooking oil collected from the Cherokee Harrah’s Casino and other local restaurants. Donnie was the CBC project manager for the NC DEQ grant that was received in 2020 to replace a diesel school bus with an electric school bus along with installing the charging infrastructure. 

Gilbert Blue Feather Rosas, Director Sustainability & Adaptation for Modesto City Schools

Gilbert Rosas has specialized in energy conservation, emissions reductions and grant project management for the past ten years. His passion is seeking environmental justice for disadvantaged communities through electric school bus adoption and empowering students through sustainability initiatives and green career path choices.

In addition to WRI’s Electric School Bus Initiative Advisory Council, Gilbert serves on Generation 180’s Solar Advisory Council and the District Innovation Hub for the California Environmental Literacy Initiative. Gilbert has gained national attention with two of the fastest electric school bus deployments in California’s history. In 2020, Stockton Unified School District went from design to construction to buses arriving and charging in less than 11 months.

In March of 2022, Gilbert joined Modesto City Schools as Director II of the Sustainability & Adaptation Department. Modest City Schools is the 25th largest school district in California and is converting half of its existing bus fleet, while exploring funding options for full electric conversion. 

Kenni Jean Schrader, Transportation Director for Three Rivers Community Schools

As Transportation Director for Three Rivers Community Schools, Kenni Jean oversees a fleet of 36 routes covering 139 square miles, transporting 1500 General Education and Special Education students daily in her adopted hometown of Three Rivers, Michigan. Kenni Jean’s affiliations and accomplishments include a partnership with the Michigan Association of Pupil Transportation Pilot Team implementing deployment of the first electric school buses in the state of Michigan in 2019; the Pupil Transportation Operation & Management Institute Outreach & Communication Team; World Resource Institute Ambassador advocating and sharing the benefits of School Bus Electrification; and 2022 National award winner of School Transportation News in Affiliation with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory Green Bus Summit. 

Kenni Jean’s passion and values are to challenge innovation and growth. Her core value is to develop strong foundation relationships in everything she does, both professionally and personally. She is dedicated to providing a safe transportation culture and value for students and staff, improving the environment in which students learn and creating goodwill throughout her community.  

Katie Tiger, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Air Quality Program Supervisor

Education: Bachelor of Science from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, KS 2007 

Experience: Mrs. Tiger has been with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Air Quality Program (AQP) since 2008. She has managed numerous grants from a variety of funding organizations like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), North Carolina Division of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ), Department of Energy (DOE), and Cherokee Preservation Foundation. Mrs. Tiger writes and creates the budget for the EPA Clean Air Act Section 105 assistance agreement each year and she wrote and received a grant from NC DEQ to replace a diesel school bus with an electric school bus. Katie Tiger has been a part of national organizations and committees including the National Tribal Air Association (NTAA) and the Tribal Air Monitoring Support (TAMS) center steering committee member and tribal chair. She has been a region 4 tribal representative on the EPA National Tribal Science Council (TSC) since 2010.