Bob Riley had served as executive director for the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services for nearly seven years when he announced at the annual meeting in Grand Rapids, Mich., in October that he would be retiring at the end of next June. That gives the association approximately seven months to select a successor.
NASDPTS released a job description last week, and is accepting applications through the middle of next month. But the search will prove difficult, said NASPDTS President Max Christensen, who is senior transportation consultant for the Iowa Department of Education.
“Bob Riley has been and continues to be a very effective executive director for NASDPTS. The depth and breadth of his knowledge base and industry contacts has been a significant factor in the positive and proactive direction our association has taken during his tenure,” Christensen told STN in an email. “On behalf of the board, we wish him the best and want to thank him for his service to NASDPTS and to the industry.”
A veteran of the school bus industry for more than 40 years, Riley got his start as a school bus driver while attending college at Towson State University in Maryland before graduating and becoming a teacher. After five years in the classroom and armed with a master’s degree in traffic safety, he moved to the Maryland Department of Education working in traffic safety and school bus training. Three years later he moved to Wyoming, and for the next decade split time as the state director of transportation at the Department of Education and as director of transportation for the Laramie County School District.
He moved to Palm Beach, Fla., in the mid-1980s, and for the next 23 years served as an assistant director, and later full director of transportation for the county school district. Then, in 2007, he was hired by NASDPTS.
Riley said he will remain on contract with NASDPTS on a month-to-month basis next summer if his position has not been filled by then. He currently resides in Steamboat Springs, Colo., with wife Jo.
