PPT’s election for our Board of Directors will run from July 9th-August 13th. All PPT Members in good standing should cast their ballots for our next leadership team!
Please read this blog with bios on all the candidates before casting your vote. An overview of our election process is at the bottom of this blog.
We are excited to announce the following candidates who were nominated to join the PPT Board of Directors. PPT Members can vote for the next round of leaders who understand the importance of our work for transit justice in Allegheny County and across Pennsylvania – leaders who are looking to become more involved in directing the course of our campaigns, communications and actions.
Learn more about the nominees in their bios below and select the one who you feel can help usher our organization and movement into a new era of advocacy, grow our community and our member leadership skills.
As a reminder, there are 7 Board Seats open for elections. All elected Board members will serve from August 2025 to August 2027.
All candidates are listed below in alphabetical order by last name. There is a photo and short bio for each candidate to give background on their past work for transit justice and other issues. Each nominee has approved and contributed to their bio.
PPT Members can vote for up to 7 of the following candidates to fill PPT General Member seats on our Board of Directors:
- Teaira Collins (she/her)
- Tom Conroy (he/him)
- Alisa Grishman (she/her)
- Kevin Joa (he/him)
- Gabriel McMorland (she/her)
- Nickole Nesby (she/her)
- Paul O’Hanlon (he/him)
- Paul Vereb (he/him)
- Abhishek Viswanathan (he/him)
Teaira Collins (she/her)
Teaira Collins is a lifelong transit rider, a Hazelwood community leader, a mother and foster mother, and now a grandmother to six grandchildren. Ms. Teaira met Laura Chu Wiens while at Port Authority testifying for improved transit service in Hazelwood, and has since become a leader in PPT’s Our Money, Our Solutions campaign for weekend service on the 93 and the extension of the 75. Ms. Teaira spoke at the City Council Capital Budget hearing press conference about the Mon-Oakland Connector alongside Barb Warwick, and on behalf of PPT during the Poor People’s Campaign Jubilee Caravan. She recently traveled to Atlanta on behalf of PPT on a delegation to connect with other Human Rights organizers across North America, and raise the important connections between public transit, housing, healthcare and food access. She is very active in the community, volunteering with The Mission Continues to help veterans and with the Hazelwood Family Support Center to uplift young mothers. Ms. Teaira also runs her own non-profit to advocate for those like her son Judah and other families with children who have Down Syndrome, and fundraises for the National Kidney Foundation to help research related to her daughter’s health.
Ms. Teaira’s motivated to fight for more and better transit service alongside the need for more funding, and has been leading annual lobby and visits to legislators in Harrisburg to educate them on the impact and need for transit funding. She is dedicated to continue organizing for a free low-income fare program because it is needed now more than ever for all communities. Ms. Teaira Collins has been:
- A Hazelwood leader in PPT’s Our Money, Our Solutions campaign to create a resident-based mobility alternative to the Mon-Oakland Connector. She was integral in winning weekend service on the 93 for Hazelwood residents during that campaign.
- A PPT organizing fellow for the FairFares campaign and helped sign up dozens of riders for the pilot program
- A Volunteer and community advocate for The Mission Continues, Hazelwood Family Support Center, PPS PTA, and for people with Down Syndrome and Kidney Disease.
- A Member of the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council Board of Directors
Tom Conroy (he/him)
Tom Conroy has both a strong Union background and entrepreneurship. Tom was a bus operator for PRT for 19 years, the last six years of his employment as the union Boardman at Collier garage which gave him a seat on the board of ATU local 85. He was also the shop steward at a small union medical supply company for Teamsters local 249 for a year in the mid-1970’s. He helped my wife manage a successful hair salon from 1980 until she retired in 2022. They both took many classes and seminars on not only the technical side of our profession as barber/stylists but also classes on communication and people skills.Tom Conroy was involved with PPT when it formed. He attended the rallies to bring back service to South Baldwin, helped at a neighborhood workshop to organize those residents to fight for restored service. He’s travelled to Harrisburg several times with PPT and Local 85 to protest and rally for funding, and testified at PRT board hearings and attended a city hearing for affordable housing. He’s recently attended marches to support our immigrant community and to fight back the MAGA agenda. He completed the Organizing Fellowship with PPT this past winter/spring, and intends to remain a member of the organizing committee. Tom was also a past member of the ACLU (now signing back up!), and is becoming active in the newly formed block watch in his community.
Kevin Joa (he/him)
Kevin is a Port Authority bus operator and member of ATU Local 85. He was first elected to PPT’s Coordinating Committee in 2019 and won his re-election in 2021. Kevin has taken part in PPT campaigns to encourage Port Authority board members to ride transit; push for expanded transit funding in PA; and build more affordable housing near great transit. Kevin was part of bus ride-alongs with County Executive candidates to lay out demands for policies that support transit riders and workers for the new leadership of the region. He was quoted on WESA for speaking out at the Pittsburgh City Council hearing about the Spin scooter pilot program about the ways that he’s observed the e-scooters affecting transit access at bus stops.
Before joining Local 85 as a bus operator, Kevin worked at a local public school system. Kevin also is a proud owner of a beautiful dog!
Alisa Grishman
Alisa has been a member of PPT for many years now, and has participated in many campaigns including the Fair Fares Campaign and Transit For All PA! She has served on the Board of Directors for four non-profits, so brings a lot of experience from that sector as well. She hopes to continue PPT’s efforts to be inclusive and equitable in all that it does.
Alisa led the effort to make PRT revise its views on allowing open strollers on buses, leading to their creation of their first official policy on priority boarding for people with disabilities. She participated in multiple Harrisburg trips with Transit For All PA! to secure funding for the continued working of public transit in the state. Alisa has spoken at PRT Board meetings, amongst other events, to help pass the Fair Fares program. She is the founder of Access Mob Pittsburgh, a disability justice organization that seeks to improve the lives of people with disabilities through positive advocacy such as education and economic incentives. Alisa co-hosted the Week Without Driving with PPT, BikePGH, and AARP to bring awareness to the 30% of people who don’t drive and advocate for better sidewalk, road, and transit accessibility.
Gabriel McMorland (she/her)
Gabriel is a white trans woman, who is also blind and transit-dependent. She has been active with PPT since 2015, and was previously on the Coordinating Committee from 2017-2022. Gabriel was very involved with the Don’t Criminalize Transit Riders campaign and early service campaigns, and on the current campaign around scooters and sidewalks. She was the Community Organizer at The Thomas Merton Center from 2014-2017, and TMC’s Executive Director from 2017-2023, doing work that ranged across racial justice, ecological defense, labor solidarity, immigrant rights, and other moves towards liberation. She is also a musician, and played bass in the live performance of Wheels on the Bus at PPT’s end-of-year celebration.
Gabriel invests time and leadership into PPT because she needs PPT to succeed. She has seen many times how PPT includes the sidewalks, curb cuts, and crosswalks as part of the overall transit system, and how PPT has centered people with disabilities to ensure that everyone’s needs are served. She believes that the outcomes of PPT’s work are practical, tangible, and truly affect peoples’ lives: PPT enacts its radical values of racial justice and worker justice, and makes them real through organizing. Gabriel’s vision for PPT is to ensure that organizing and leadership development continue to be at the heart of PPT’s work.
Nickole Nesby (she/her)
Mayor Nickole Nesby is a lifelong resident of the Mon Valley Area in Allegheny County. She served 20 years combined with the legislative and executive branches of the federal government before serving as the Mayor in the City of Duquesne. No stranger to socioeconomic disparity, Ms. Nesby was born in McKeesport, PA. Her parents were hard working steel mill workers. One of seven siblings who she had to raise when her mother fell victim to the crack epidemic, she refused to allow poverty to derail her goal of attaining higher education. Nesby recently completed her fourth degree, an MBS from Northcentral University in Organizational Leadership Specializing in Nonprofits. Nickole Nesby began working with PPT in 2017. Her first campaign was the Duquesne Community Campaign. She afterwards participated in the opposition of BRT service cuts to the Mon Valley, and organized for the restoration of bus service to the Hilltop and Parkview Apartments in Duquesne. Over the years, Mayor Nesby has participated in a pizza party to write postcards to legislators, spoke at monthly PRT Board meetings, held rallies, and learned from training sessions. Currently, Mayor Nesby is a Mon Valley transit fellow with PPT for summer 2025. As a public transit rider, she knows the importance of a fair and equitable transit system. She believes in the mission of PPT. In addition, she believes that a good public transport system must be easy and convenient to use, fast, safe, clean and affordable.
Paul O’Hanlon (he/him)
My name is Paul O’Hanlon, I’m a retired lawyer. From 2001 to 2014, I worked for a disability rights law firm, and before that I was the Senior Housing Attorney and Housing Unit Chief with Neighborhood Legal Services Association in Pittsburgh.
I caught the “transit bug” in 1991. At that time Port Authority began the long process of becoming accessible to passengers in wheelchairs. Since that time I’ve been involved in advocating for the best, most accessible, area-wide and affordable public transit.
I have been involved in a number of advocacy issues in Allegheny County, particularly around housing, accessible public transportation, and voter engagement.
Paul Vereb (he/him)
Paul is a retired transit maintenance supervisor who stressed safety and efficiency while employed at PRT and he understands the importance of keeping transit affordable and reliable. Paul realizes the need of effective transit for people who rely on our system, and the personal and communal affect any changes could have on our region. He also brings a worker’s perspective to the table. Although Paul’s retired, he’s a firm believer in riders and transit worker’s rights, safety, and the pursuit of a thriving system.
Paul recently participated in the PPT Fellowship program which included a rally/press conference concerning the Bus Line Redesign. He’s rallied in Harrisburgh with ATU Local 85 and spoken to Representatives and Senators in support of sufficient funding for transit. He partcipated in the spring training, giving an important and often overlooked worker’s perspective. He circulated a petition to save our routes, jobs, and service, while visiting the garages during Transit Worker Appreciation Day, garnering nearly 100 petition signers to fund transit.
Abhishek Viswanathan
Abhishek is a lifelong transit rider (in various cities and countries) and he’s invested in making Pittsburgh’s transit system accessible, equitable, and exciting to use. He have been working with PPT for several years in various capacities, always ensuring that transit riders and workers are the main priority. His background is in data science and I have used my skills to create maps and tools for riders to better understand the impact of changes to the transit system. Abhishek also introduces his students to local transit datasets so they can work with data that is grounded in services that thousands of people (including many of them) use daily.
Abhishek also has experience with labour, environment, and anti-carceral-tech organizing in Pittsburgh. His vision for PPT is to bring more riders and students into the fold, amplify rider and operator voices through data storytelling, and use our broad base to push for increased accessibility and affordability. He also hopes that through intersectional organizing, PPT can connect with other social justice organizations to build a city that we can all thrive in.
Some key campaigns in which Abhishek has played a vital role include
- Securing equitable infrastructure, particularly for improved bus shelters
- Evaluating the Bus Line Redesign to ensure it works for All
- Developing the Riders Vision for Public Transit
- Developing a Transit Fellowship in the South Hilltop
- Banning Facial Recognition and other surveillance at CMU
Overview of PPT’s Board Election Process
Pittsburghers for Public Transit is a grassroots, democratic, member-led organization that fights for racial justice and public transit as a human right. The election of a Board of Directors from and by our general membership is a cornerstone of what keeps us accountable to our members. The Board is responsible for strategizing and executing the organization’s campaigns, overseeing the staff and direction of the organization, and for financial oversight.
The Board’s Executive Committee chooses how many seats will be up for PPT’s board election each year. Our bylaws say that our Board can be anywhere from 5 to 15 people and that 2 seats are reserved for transit workers connected to a local transit union. Earlier this year our Board’s Executive Committee decided to open 7 seats to be elected from our general membership, with a minimum of one transit worker to be elected to the Board this cycle.
Each spring, the PPT membership nominates fellow members to run for the Board of Directors. If those members accept the nomination, then they are invited to submit a photo and bio to be placed on the ballot, and they are invited to speak about their qualifications at the July General Member Meeting.
PPT Members in good standing can cast their ballots for two weeks in July. The nominees with the highest vote totals are invited to join the Board of Directors for a 2-year term.
How can PPT members vote?
PPT Members in good standing can cast their ballots from July 9th to August 13th using the form below. The nominees with the highest vote totals are invited to join the Board of Directors for a two-year term. As a reminder, all active PPT members commit to doing the following:
- Agree to uphold PPT’s Transit Bill of Rights.
- Contribute their time over the past year and/or financial resources to help us grow our movement for transit justice. Members can contribute their time and help build power by participating in our monthly meetings, volunteer-led committees, campaign organizing drives, rallies and events.
If you are unsure of your PPT Membership status, you can check by email (info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org) or by phone ( 412-626-7353 ).