Spika Speaker Series

Spika's Knowledge Center had the privilege of hosting a conversation with one of the foremost leaders in the transit industry, one who is driving CapMetro toward a zero emission future, Ms. Dottie Watkins, President & CEO, CapMetro in Austin, Texas.In this deep dive, you will learn about a day in the life of what Ms. Watkins refers to as 'the accidental CEO' who first started as a bus driver, her views on a variety of aspects of a zero emission fleet from technology choices to workforce development and policy impacts, her take on funding innovation in transit, and among other things, her advice for young entrants to the industry. A compelling speaker and storyteller, in this episode of the Spika Speaker Series, you will know what makes Ms. Dottie Watkins an iconic and inspirational leader, and why "Austin can't Austin without CapMetro." This conversation was hosted by Bekhi Spika, Vice President and Chief Revenue Office of Spika Design & Manufacturing out of Lewistown, Montana, and Chad Catron, the industry specialist at Spika. Spika Design & Manufacturing, the sponsor of this program, custom-design and manufactures OSHA compliant work platforms for lanyard-free fall protection at varying heights and cantilevers, to fit any fleet and any maintenance facility of a transit agency. Learn more about the sponsor at https://spikamfg.com

Enjoy this virtual fireside chat style conversation with Mr. Andrew Von Ah of the U.S. Government Accountability Office about the research effort that he directed at the behest of the U.S. Congress, later published as a report titled 'Transit Workforce Development: Actions to Support Transition to Zero-Emission Buses'. Among other things, Mr. Von Ah discusses their findings about lining up a prepared workforce to ensure the smooth transition of transit fleets to zero emission, their observations on the ground, and what they learned from the experience of other nations with ZEB mass transit fleets. The report, which was released in November 2024, is available at https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-1.... Mr. Von Ah has been a Director in GAO’s Physical Infrastructure team since 2017. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Von Ah served as an Acting Director in GAO’s Defense Capabilities and Management team, leading work on DOD Business Operations issues for 2 years, and was an Assistant Director for Physical Infrastructure for over 7 years, conducting work on issues in surface transportation, aviation, telecommunications, and federal real property. A recipient of the Richard J. Hillman Human Capital Management Award, a congressional client service award and two meritorious service awards, as well as numerous other awards for high quality products from GAO, Mr. Von Ah entered federal service with GAO in 2000 in the Los Angeles field office and has largely spent his entire career in that office examining various issues related to infrastructure. Mr. Von Ah received a Master’s of Public Policy from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2000, and a Bachelor’s of Cultural Anthropology from the University of California at Irvine in 1992. In 2016, he received a certificate from American University’s Key Executive Leadership Program. This program, under the Spika Speaker Series, is a presentation of The Spika Knowledge Center, created to generate greater awareness about safe and productive access at heights and cantilevers, especially in the world of manufacturing and maintenance. Learn more at https://spikamfg.com or email us at info [at] spikamfg [dot] com.

Join us for a fireside chat as yet another subject matter expert on Zero Emissions in mass transit walks us through his journey, his team's research and talks about where all the road signs to zero emission transition in the world of mass transit point in the years to come.Mike Hynes is National Transit Bus Program Manager at CALSTART. Mike joined CALSTART in September 2022 as the National Transit Bus Program Manager. He leads the transit bus program as a member of the Bus Initiative team to assist agencies with planning, procuring, and deploying zero-emission vehicles. With more than 20 years of experience in the public transportation sector, Mike strives to expand CALSTART’s role in the adoption and implementation of zero emission transit fleets across the nation. Prior to joining CALSTART, Mike worked for Spokane Transit Authority in both planning and operations roles to include implementation of zero emission fleets and held operational roles with agencies in suburban Chicago, Reno, Nevada and Santa Clarita, California. Mike holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.This program, under the Spika Speaker Series, is a presentation of The Spika Knowledge Center, created to generate greater awareness about safe and productive access at heights and cantilevers, especially in the world of manufacturing and maintenance. Learn more at https://spikamfg.com/knowledge or email us at info [at] spikamfg [dot] com.

In this fascinating and highly informative deep dive on the topic of transit agencies adopting Zero Emission Bus fleets, Mr. David Carr, Director, Zero Emission Vehicle Program, CapMetro, in Austin, Texas, shares his perspective on the state of the industry and what it takes to navigate this generational change in bus technology and the level of preparation that it takes.

Mr. David Carr has over 20 years of experience in transit, utility, and university transportation management. Highlights of his career including deploying electric buses and infrastructure at RTC in Reno Nevada from 2014 to 2022, as well as working as an Assistant Director of Transportation at the University of Washington and Duke University. Currently Mr. Carr is the Director, Zero Emission Vehicle Program at CapMetro in Austin Texas where he leads the efforts on deploying a 100% zero emissions fleet by 2040. He graduated from Cal State LA with a degree in business administration. Mr. Carr currently serves on the ZEBRA Executive Council, and APTA Zero Emissions Fleet Committee, and has served in APTA as the Chair of the Electric Bus Subcommittee.

This program, under the Spika Speaker Series, is a presentation of The Spika Knowledge Center, created to generate greater awareness about safe and productive access at heights and cantilevers, especially in the world of manufacturing and maintenance. Learn more at https://spikamfg.com/knowledge or email us at info [at] spikamfg [dot] com.

James Hall, Principal & Founder of ZEB Tech, in conversation with Bekhi Spika, Vice President & Chief Revenue Officer, Spika Design & Manufacturing, Montana.

The Spika Speaker Series in Spika Design & Manufacturing's Knowledge Center presents a conversation with Bryan Sooter, P.E., Director - Standards, American Public Transportation Association (APTA), in conversation with Bekhi Spika, VP and CRO, Spika Design & Manufacturing, Montana.

In the third webinar in our series titled 'In Our Defense', learn from  the experience of the team at Spika Design & Manufacturing about the  versatility of work platforms and their uses in the defense industry  for safe access for personnel at varying heights and cantilevers during  the maintenance or manufacture of tactical equipment such as tanks and  tankers.   

Throughout Spika’s 20 years of experience designing and manufacturing  military maintenance stands, end users have shared their preference for  work platforms to ladders due to the significant time savings and  efficiency gains. This discussion includes deep insights on design  considerations for work platforms to not only keep personnel safe, but  also to protect sensitive equipment from damage while it is being  accessed in facilities short on space and time.    

See more designs and configurations at https://www.spikamfg.com/ or contact the Spika team at [email protected] to learn more. The audio for this podcast was extracted from the video recording of the same session that is available for viewing at https://spikamfg.com/knowledge.

The Knowledge Center at Spika Design & Manufacturing, Inc., in conjunction with OSHA’s 2021 Safe + Sound Week presents a recording of a special event on the Zero-Emission Transit Bus Technology Analysis (ZETBTA) study recently published by The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit), with Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy (Here is a link to the study for your ready reference: https://www.actransit.org/sites/default/files/2021-07/EDT-060420_Report-ZETBTA.pdf). 

The featured speakers in this virtual fireside chat were:

The virtual session was moderated by Spika Design & Manufacturing’s President & CEO, Katie Spika, and Vice President & Director of Sales, Bekhi Spika. The goal of this Knowledge Center event was to help the audience better understand the impacts of the study and among other things, understand how manufacturers and buyers of zero-emission mass transit buses ought to consider safety and training for the maintenance of the buses, especially with regard to safe access at heights and cantilevers. This event is a part of OSHA’s Safe + Sound Week 2021.

Time-stamped knowledge components of this presentation:

For more programs like this one, please visit Spika Design & Manufacturing's Knowledge Center at https://spikamfg.com/knowledge.

This is a conversation on best practices in safety at heights and  cantilevers around sensitive equipment during fleet maintenance,  featuring MRO and Safety leaders from the City of Tallahassee's  StarMetro Transit System. This event recording is brought to you by  Spika Knowledge Center, in collaboration with the City of Tallahassee, Florida. Learn from two renowned MRO and Safety champions about how their team works around sensitive equipment in the City of Tallahassee's StarMetro Transit System. 

The featured guests, subject matter experts on safety in fleet maintenance for public transportation, are Mr. Daniel Dombrowski,  Safety Specialist, City of Tallahassee, and Mr. Michael Vaughan, Lead  Supervisor - Equipment Services, StarMetro Transit Maintenance, City of Tallahassee. The session was moderated by Spika Design &  Manufacturing President & CEO, Katie Spika, and panelists included other leaders from Spika, viz., Bekhi Spika, VP and Director of  Sales & Marketing, and Tom Spika, Founder & Chief Innovation Officer of Spika Design & Manufacturing, Inc.

In this new webinar series titled 'In Our Defense', learn from the  experience of the team at Spika Design & Manufacturing about best  practices in the defense industry for the procurement of work platforms  used in safe access for personnel at varying heights and cantilevers,  during the maintenance or manufacture of rotorcraft. Learn more at https://www.spikamfg.com/rotary-wing/ or contact the Spika team at [email protected]