Hampton Roads Transit CEO Michael Townes honored for leadership

NEWPORT NEWS – Michael Townes, president and chief executive of Hampton Roads Transit, will receive the Transportation Research Board’s Sharon D. Bank’s award for Innovative Leadership.

Townes — who announced Monday he would retire from HRT in September 2010 in the face of a Norfolk light-rail project that was over budget — was nominated for the award for “his service-oriented approach to addressing the mobility needs of people throughout the community, no matter what their economic or social background,” according to the board.

The light-rail project will be the first of its kind in Virginia.