Executive Team
Michael Hursh, General Manager. Mike was appointed the General Manager by the AC Transit Board of Directors in September 2015. He is a nine-year veteran of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), serving as the Deputy Director, Operations for Maintenance and Security, and between 2012 and 2015 as the Chief Operating Officer. As COO, Mike directed all VTA transit operations, including bus and light rail, operator training, accessible services, planning, scheduling, and facility maintenance. Among his previous positions, he served as Deputy General Manager for Maintenance, Safety and Training for the San Francisco Municipal Railway.
Mike is a champion for the environment and has a thorough understanding of public transportation in the Bay Area. He values customers, key stakeholders and employees who make transit systems work.
A native of Reno, Nevada, Mike is a long-time Bay Area resident and veteran of the United States Air Force, serving six years in active duty and five years as a reservist in the California Air National Guard. He is a past chair of the California Transit Association Rail Operations & Regulatory Committee and graduate of Leadership Contra Costa.
Claudia L. Allen, Chief Financial Officer. Claudia joined the District in December 2015, bringing more than 30 years of senior management experience in finance, accounting, and budget development in large-scale organizations, including the Port Authority of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh and Aetna Life & Casualty in Connecticut. She served as Chief Financial Officer at the Port Authority for more than 20 years, during which time the Authority won numerous Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Awards. At AC Transit, she oversees all aspects of the District’s budget, financial services, and procurement activities.
Claudia earned a bachelor’s degree in Management from Point Park College, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh. She is an alumna of Leadership APTA, Leadership Pittsburgh, as well as The ENO Center for Transportation. Additionally, she has been honored with numerous awards including the Woman of Excellence Award from the New Pittsburgh Courier and the Black Achievers Award from Black Opinion Magazine.
Ahsan Baig, Chief Information Officer. Ahsan provides strategic direction, policy guidance, and the IT services necessary to meet the AC Transit’s operational objectives, overseeing and coordinating all IT investments, initiatives, projects and programs. Ahsan has over 24 years of private and public sector Information Technology experience, leading and managing high-performing teams in critical, high-visibility projects. Most recently, with the City of Oakland, he spent 14 years in managerial and technical lead roles, such as Division Manager, Interim CIO, and Deputy CIO overseeing IT infrastructure, 911 public safety systems, mission critical radio systems, Project Management Office (PMO) and business applications. Ahsan has worked for Parsons Brinckerhoff, where he worked with Caltrans and Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) on several smart transportation and transit related projects like 511, FasTrak, etc.
Prior to Parsons Brinckerhoff, Ahsan worked as Director of Information Technology and Technical Support at several companies including MetaTV, Inc., Worldgate Communications, Inc., MFS WorldCom, and Raytheon. Ahsan earned a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in Physics from University of Karachi, as well as a Master’s of Science in Electrical Engineering from the City College, City University of New York (CUNY).
Salvador Llamas, Chief Operating Officer. Sal has over 24 years of experience in the fleet and facilities maintenance field which includes 17 years of experience managing public transit operations. Before joining AC Transit, Sal worked at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) and served honorably for ten years in the United States Marine Corps (both active duty and the Marine Corps Reserve). He started his career in the Marines as a mechanic, rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant and held the position of Motor Transport Chief. He served two combat tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sal began his tenure at AC Transit as Director of Maintenance in December 2012. Sal has directed fleet and facility maintenance activities for a 24/7 operation that includes an operating budget of more than 87 million dollars, 630 public transit buses, 148 non-revenue vehicles, and 482 full-time employees. Sal has focused on delivering measurable service improvements on key performance indicators such as Miles Between Chargeable Road Call, Bus Cleanliness Inspection Ratings, Preventative Maintenance Inspections and Maintenance Time Off. He is the Chair of the Road Call Reduction Task Force and the Bus Cleanliness Task Force. Sal participates on the On-Time Performance Task Force, Bus Roadeo Committee, Joint Apprenticeship Committee, Learning & Development Steering Committee and the Wellness Council. Sal also represents AC Transit on the following American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Committees; Bus Operations, Bus Technical Maintenance, and Clean Propulsion.
Sal holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management. He has continued to sharpen his leadership skills by participating in leadership programs such as the National Transit Institute -Transit Maintenance Leadership Workshop, the Eno Center for Transportation -Transit Senior Executive Program, and the APTA Leadership Program.
Beverly Greene, Executive Director of External Affairs, Marketing and Communications.
Beverly joined AC Transit in 2007 and manages the state and federal legislative programs and relationships with policy makers, and key stakeholders in support of AC Transit’s service development and long-term capital projects. These projects are vital to AC Transit’s future growth and include the $180 million East Bay Bus Rapid Transit Project currently underway.
Ms. Greene developed and implemented the 2016 public education and information campaign to inform voters about its parcel tax reauthorization that will generate more than $600 million over 20 years for AC Transit. The successful ballot measure passed with over 82% voter approval.
Beverly is a member of the APTA Membership Services Committee and its Application Review Subcommittee, the APTA Legislative Committee, the Bus & Paratransit Conference Planning Subcommittee, and former member of the Leadership APTA Committee. She is a member of California Transit Association Federal and State Legislative Committees, and its Finance & Management Committee. Ms. Greene is a graduate of Leadership APTA, the ENO Transit Senior Executive Program, and Leadership Oakland. She is the President of the Northern California Chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO), and a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS).
Beverly received a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California, a M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Ramakrishna Pochiraju, P.E., Executive Director of Planning and Engineering. Ramakrishna joined the District in April 2013, bringing 22 years of progressive experience in program management, contract administration, planning, design and construction of transportation and transit projects. He served as Building Standards Commissioner for City of Sugar Land, TX and on the Roadways and Pavement Committee of Michigan Transportation Research Board to identify overarching research needs and help develop and prioritize Research Need Statements (RNS). Prior to joining AC Transit, Rama managed a $3.1 billion dollar hurricane Ike/Dolly disaster recovery program as Project Review Manager providing capital project facilitation, oversight, and conflict resolution for 4000 projects in 300 communities in 29 counties. Rama most recently held the position of Director of Capital Projects with AC Transit.
Mr. Pochiraju is a Registered Professional Engineer in California, Texas and Michigan, and provides a wealth of knowledge on federal, state and local policies and procedures. Ramakrishna holds Master’s degree in Computer Applications and Systems Engineering from Temple University, and B.S (Honors) in Civil Engineering and M.S. (Honors) in Physics from BITS, Pilani.
Nathaniel Kramer, Acting Executive Director of Human Resources and Labor Relations. Nate joined the District in March 2017 as the Labor Relations Manager, bringing more than 10 years of expertise in labor relations and human resources principles and services, including a legal background focused on advising employers on achieving the best outcomes to labor and employment related matters.
Having worked for industry leading airline, hospitality and healthcare organizations across the country, Nate has extensive knowledge in strategic planning, organizing and leading contract negotiations for multiple inter-related contracts. Nate has a broad level of experience in managing labor relationships for organizations transitioning through periods of extensive and re-defining changes.
Nate earned a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Minnesota and a Juris Doctor from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston. He has had volunteer and professional affiliations with the Northern California Human Resources Association, United Management Association, SHRM Hawai’i and Mentor Duluth, Minnesota.
Direct Reports
Robert Lyles, Media Affairs Manager. Robert joined the District in January 2016, bringing more than 15 years of strong media relations experience. He began his career as a reporter and anchor, generating exclusive news content for various news stations in Kansas, Pennsylvania, Virginia and California, including more than six years at KPIX in San Francisco. In 2014, Robert joined San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) as the Deputy Spokesperson for SFMTA’s transit service, Taxi & Accessible Services, and the Muni Forward campaign.
Robert earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Master’s degree in Journalism & Public Affairs from American University. He was a member of the award-winning team that received the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association in 2013 and 2014 for Overall Excellence and Breaking News. He was an Emmy Nominee in 2012 for Best Live Reporting & Outstanding Investigative Reporting and was honored for Outstanding Multi-Part Series by the Radio-Television News Direction Association of Northern California.
Maryam Paracha, Executive Coordinator. Maryam joined the team in 2012 and has over eight years of Executive Coordinator/Project Management experience with a financial services background. Before joining AC Transit she was with Boyden Global Executive Search in San Francisco where she focused on client needs, conducted research and played a significant role in candidate development. She also brings experience in private sector early stage investments and funding from a Venture Capital industry where she worked closely with Life Science and Clean Tech Portfolio Companies, managed research and lead Project Coordination for the Managing Directors. Maryam is a philanthropist for Salvare La Vita Water, a local bay area American Bottle Water company geared to help solve the world’s water crisis.
Maryam holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and with a concentration in Business Management from UCLA.
Lynette Little, Director of Civil Rights and Compliance. Lynette joined the District in February 2020, bringing more than 20 years of combined federal compliance, Civil Rights and Leadership experience to the District. She is responsible for Disadvantage Business Enterprise (DBE), Small Business Enterprise (SBE), Title VI, EEO and Drug and Alcohol programs for both Federal and State regulation requirements. Prior to joining the District, she served at the Region IX Civil Rights officer for the US Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration (FTA), where she was responsible for DBE, Title VI, ADA and EEO Federal compliance Programs for over 160 transit agencies located in Region IX. Prior to her position as Regional Civil Rights Officer with FTA, she had over 10 years in Federal Service, serving in various capacities in Federal Background Investigations Program. Ms. Little has a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Psychology from Sacramento State University.
Alan Parello, Internal Audit Manager. Alan joined AC Transit in 1990 and has performed a wide variety of financial and operational audits during his tenure here. He leads a department that strives to provide collaborative, solutions-based audit services with an emphasis on improving agency internal controls and operating efficiency. Prior to joining AC Transit, Alan worked as an Internal Auditor for AM International, Inc. and as an Investment Accountant for JMB Realty, Inc. in Chicago.
Alan has a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Southern Illinois University and is a Certified Public Accountant.