COMTO San Antonio Under New Leadership

Sidney Smith is the newly elected president of COMTO San Antonio. He has been the Records Administrator in the VIA Operations Division for two years. He served VIA for just over two years as a Part-Time Bus Operator prior to being promoted.

The new officers that will serve with Sidney are 1st Vice President Michelle Perales - Community Planner, VIA; 2nd Vice President Andre Trabue - Bus Scheduler, VIA; Treasurer William Varnado - Safety Supervisor, VIA; Secretary Mona Hazel - Secretary, VIA; Parliamentarian - Johnny Martinez, Jr. - Professional Bus Operator, VIA.  All of them are in "ELECT" status through the end of May.

Prior to coming to VIA, Sidney ran a successful field services company which served the financial services industry. These services included mortgage/home equity closings and residential insurance inspections.

Sidney is a US Army veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm. He is currently completing an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Real Estate Management at San Antonio College.  He is dedicated to improving opportunities for minorities in transportation.

The transportation industry has a wide range of opportunities for employee advancement, but years ago there was no support system to ensure that minorities had equal opportunities to move up within transportation companies.  As a result of some of the inequities within the industry, an organization by the name of Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) was established.

Since COMTO is a multi-modal transportation industry organization, we are trying to reach out and recruit from other transportation modes in our region. Currently, our chapter is over 95% transit employees. We want to bring, aviation, road and rail into our chapter. We are one of the fastest growing chapters of the 40 chapters nationwide in terms of individual memberships. Our chapter won the 2011 COMTO Best Membership Recruitment and Retention Award. We also want to attract more DBE members. We recognize that there are many minority or women owned businesses who dont have their DBE certification. COMTO San Antonio in conjunction with the VIA's new Equal Employment and Business Opportunity Department will look for ways to assist historically underutilized businesses with the DBE certification process. At the same time we are enhancing our scholarship program for transit workers who are members of our chapter to gain marketable skills to facilitate their advancement in the transportation industry.

History of COMTO

Founded in 1971 on the campus of Howard University in Washington, DC, the Conference Of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) was created to provide a forum for senior level minority professionals in the transportation industry. It was an occasion to act, born of the need to address the inequities of a rapidly expanding industry within which its minority workers, upon whose shoulders the industry was built, were not allowed the same access to employment, promotion and contract opportunities. It was recognized from the beginning that COMTO was positioning itself for a long and arduous, but rewarding history.

The founders, leaders and dedicated workers whose original vision formed the foundation of the organization would be proud of where COMTO stands today. With thirty-nine (39) chapters across the country and members encompassing individuals, organizations, transportation agencies, non-profits and Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs), efforts have ensured that members of COMTO now serve in every sector of the transportation industry.

Since its inception, COMTO has continued to evolve to become the premier organization for the training, education and professional development of minority transportation professionals. The true measure of how far COMTO has come is revealed by the talent, tenacity and accomplishments of the members who have joined forces to correct the inequities of the past and chart the direction of the future.