East Metro Assistant Transportation Manager Chang Yang has been recognized as one of the country’s top young transit professionals.
Yang appears in Mass Transit magazine’s annual Top 40 Under 40 list, which celebrates transit’s “best and brightest” young leaders.
“Chang is a positive, energetic and respectful role model who has never stopped pursuing his goals,” said Christy Bailly, Director-Bus Transportation. “It’s exciting to see his efforts recognized on a national level with an expectation of more great things to come.”
Yang joined Metro Transit as a bus operator in 2004, following in the footsteps of his father, Operator Neng Yang, who also works at East Metro. Yang later worked as a Train Operator and Transit Supervisor.
In 2011, Yang became the youngest Assistant Transportation Manager in Metro Transit history, and the first of Hmong descent. He manages around 70 operators and enjoys mentoring those who hope to move into management roles.
“To see them (operators) improve on all aspects of their job and do a complete 180 is very satisfying,” Yang told Mass Transit. “I know having a positive attitude has a direct impact on their performance and I always try to put a smile on their face when they leave my office.”
Yang is also actively involved in emergency response and continuity of operations planning.
Also included on Mass Transit’s list were Lyssa Leitner, Washington County’s project manager for a planned Bus Rapid Transit line in the East Metro, and Avital Barnea, a policy analyst with the U.S. Department of Transportation whose career began in Metro Transit’s Transit’s Transit Control Center.
Metro Transit's previous 40 Under 40 winners include Kristin Thompson, Assistant Director-Scheduling, Analysis and Data Collection, Capt. Jim Franklin, Charles Carlson, Senior Manager-Bus Rapid Transit and Brian Funk, Deputy Chief of Operations-Bus.
> Metro Transit Awards and Recognition
> Mass Transit's 2016 Top 40 Under 40