Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and the Chattanooga City Council are revitalizing the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority with the appointment of nine board members.
The appointments include eight new members and one reappointment, bringing the board of directors to its full 11-member complement.
With experience in sectors ranging from governmental affairs and city planning to workforce development and information technology, the revamped board “has the skills and expertise needed to lay the groundwork for an expanded, next-generation public transit system for the Chattanooga-Hamilton County region,” says Kelly.
“These new appointments come at a pivotal time for Chattanooga, as the city continues to grow and a strong, integrated public transit system becomes increasingly critical for our community.
“Together with CARTA, we can build the smartest transportation system in the country – one that provides reliable, practical and affordable mobility options that open up opportunity for every neighborhood.”
New board members include Charita Allen, Stephen Culp, Corey Evatt, Evann Freeman, Bill Nye, Johan de Nysschen, Daniela Peterson and Arcie Reeves.
These directors join LeAndrea Sanderfur, who has served since 2019, Jenny Park, whose term expires in 2024, and treasurer Patricia McKoy, the sole Hamilton County appointee.
The appointments replace eight previous CARTA board members, whose five-year terms had expired.
Allen has more than 20 years of economic and community development experience. She is currently the director of workforce development for the state of Tennessee.
Prior to joining the state, she served as deputy administrator for economic development with the city of Chattanooga.
Allen is a native Tennessean and a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Culp is a business and civic entrepreneur. A former U.S. navy reserve officer, U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer and NCAA Division I athlete, Culp is also co-founder of Delegator, ProDiligence, Smart Furniture, Chattanooga Renaissance Funds I and II and the non-profit ventures Causeway and CF Smackdown.
Locally, Culp has served as a board director to over a dozen organizations, including the Trust for Public Land, River City Company and the Chamber of Commerce.
He earned a Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School, a graduate fellowship from the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation and a Bachelor of Arts. from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Until his retirement in 2022, De Nysschen was a member of the boards of Volkswagen North American Region and Volkswagen of America and chairman of the supervisory board of Volkswagen de Mexico.
He is currently active on boards for the University of Tennessee College of Engineering and Computer Studies and The Falcon Group, and is a director at Guident. He is also a special advisor at Chattanooga 2.0.
De Nysschen brings 42 years of automotive experience from the Volkswagen Group, Nissan and General Motors to CARTA’s board. During his time as COO for Volkswagen North America, he oversaw many aspects of production and logistics for six product lines.
De Nysschen has an MBA in marketing and finance from the University of Pretoria and a bachelor’s degree in commerce and economics from Nelson Mandela University.
Evatt is a lifelong Chattanoogan and alum of Central High School. He is a senior analyst for global operations at a telecommunications company.
Evatt’s passions for sustainability and localism led him to found the nonprofit ChattaVegan in 2016, and his drive to make public transportation more accessible and desirable led to the creation of ChattaTransit in 2022.
Freeman joined EPB as director of government relations in December 2019. He leads EPB’s government relations efforts.
Freeman has spent the past decade as a government relations professional, most recently for the U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander. At EPB, he works with local, state and federal stakeholders, as well as local entrepreneurs and area businesses.
CARTA employed Nye at the Lookout Mountain Incline Railway from 1981 until his retirement in 2021. During his 40 years of employment with the company, he served as porter and oiler, conductor, maintenance man and hoist operator.
Nye was born and raised in Chattanooga and is an alum of Tyner High School.
Nye has been an ATU Local 1212 union member since he was 19. During his years of service, he worked in the positions of union steward, recording secretary and vice president.
He continues to represent both union members and management of CARTA as chairman of the joint CARTA/ATU pension fund.
Peterson joined the Trust for Public Land in 2018. Originally a brown immigrant social worker from Chile, Peterson has over 18 years of experience working with nonprofits, city government, juvenile detention and public schools.
Peterson is a recipient of the Footprint Foundation’s Footprint Award (2019), La Paz Chattanooga’s Latino Leadership Award (2017) and the Roger Fellowship.
She serves on the Board of La Paz Chattanooga, Arts Build and Community Foundation.
Reeves works as a program manager for a federal agency and has a background in human resources. She is a native of Chattanooga and a graduate of the University of Chattanooga.
Sanderfur is a Chattanooga native, a retired educator and a community volunteer.
She earned a Bachelor of Science in interdisciplinary studies from Middle Tennessee State University and Master of Education from Kennesaw State University.
Sanderfur has served on the CARTA Care-a-Van Advisory Board for six years and the CARTA board of directors since 2019.
Vijayvargiya joins CHI
Memorial’s lung center
Dr. Prabhu Vijayvargiya has joined the Buz Standefer Lung Center and CHI Memorial Lung Care Associates.
Vijay earned his medical degree from S.M.S. Medical College at the University of Rajasthan in Jaipur, India. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Englewood Health in Englewood, New Jersey.
Vijay completed a fellowship in pulmonary medicine at Bronx Lebanon Hospital in New York, New York, a fellowship in critical care medicine at George Washington Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and a fellowship in shock trauma critical care at Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems in Baltimore.
Vijay is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal, pulmonary disease and critical care medicine.
To schedule an appointment, call 423 495-2635.