THE COMET ANNOUNCES NEW OFFICERS FOR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

(September 16, 2020) Columbia, SC – The Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority (The COMET) announces the election of new officers to its Board of Directors. The new officers were elected at the August 2020 meeting.

• Col. (R) Roger Leaks, Jr. is the newly elected board Chair. He succeeds Ron Anderson, who served a term of two years in this capacity. Leaks was appointed to the board by Richland County Council in 2016 and has served as chair of the Service Committee during his tenure. He is an independent businessman and has served on various boards and commissions. These include, the State Elections Commission (past Vice Chair), the SC State Health and Environmental Control Board (past board Secretary), and the Central Midlands Regional Council of Governments (past Chair).
• Derrick Huggins is the newly elected board Vice Chair. He has been involved with the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority since 2011 and was appointed by the City of Columbia. He is currently the Vice President of Facilities and Transportation at the University of South Carolina.
• Andy Smith has served on the board since early 2016 as the appointee from the City of Forest Acres. This is his second term as board Treasurer. He previously served as board secretary. In addition to his role as Assistant City Administrator/Finance Director for the City of Forest Acres, he also serves as Corporate Treasurer for the Orthodox Church in America.
• Allison Terracio is the newly elected board Secretary. She is in her first year of service on The COMET Board of Directors. Terracio represents Richland County and is a member of Richland County Council serving District 5, which includes the neighborhoods of Historic Waverly, Edgewood, Shandon, Rosewood, Five Points, the Vista, St. Andrews, and the campuses of the University of South Carolina, Allen University and Benedict College.
• Lill Mood, BSN, MPH, has served on The COMET Board of Directors since 2002 representing Chapin in both voting and advisory appointments and now serves as the Lexington County Council representative. Mood is the current Service Committee Chair, serving in this position for the second time. Mood is also a member of COVID-19, Intermodal, and ED Evaluation Ad Hoc Committees. She served twice on the Operations Contract Procurement Committee and previously served as Board Secretary. Among her other awards and honors, she was awarded SC Alliance for Mobile Infrastructure Urban Board Member of the Year in 2015, served as a member of Central Midlands Council of Governments Rail Advisory Committee, Transportation Chair for Columbia Area League of Women Voters and is a former member of SCDOT Rail Advisory Committee.

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About The COMET:  The COMET is a service of the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority and provides countywide public transit services on 34 fixed routes, five ReFlex services, vanpool service for commuters, subsidy programs with Uber and Lyft and DART for transportation to grocery stores and at night, ADA complementary paratransit service throughout Richland and portions of Lexington Counties and eight Blue Bike bikeshare stations in Downtown Columbia. The COMET transports approximately 2.8 million passenger trips a year on a fleet of more than 80 buses, vans and trolleys. Transit services are provided under contract with RATP Dev USA, Enterprise Holdings, Lyft, Uber and Bewegen. For additional The COMET information, please call (803) 255-7100, TDD/TTY: 711 through the relay service, email: info@catchthecomet.org or visit www.catchthecomet.org.

Catch The COMET…We Will Take You There!