Colin Alter:  

WORKING LIFE: After (finally) graduating from college (American University, Washington, DC, majoring in public administration) and serving 2 years in the military, I returned to Rochester to work for Regional Transit for 4 years. I was the guy that invented the "Park &* Ride system in and around Rochester, as well as the dial-a-bus that operates (operated?) in Greece and Batavia. After Rochester, I moved to the Maryland suburbs of Washington, continuing to work as a transit planner. I eventually moved to the major transit provider in the national capital region (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) working in various financial management positions. By the late 1990's, I was in a senior managerial role in the construction department, retiring as the de facto financial manager for the completion of the Metrorail system. Also interesting was trying to help the contractors do their job in a way that would help WMATA build the system. I was also directly involving in authorizing pay the contractors. Thus, I go to hold checks valuing up to $20 million. As we neared completion, I also became the senior utility engineer, close-out manager, liaison to the GAO, labor relations, etc. As the grant and capital programming "expert," I also developed close relations with our transit police. During this period I worked a trade with WMATA's personnel office to get a slot in a major OSHA training program. My half of the bargain was to assist them in their first sexual harassment training film. For reasons that I don't understand, I was acting the role of the prototype sexual harasser. Little did I know that several months later the video was to be shown first to senior executive management. My very new boss (an attractive woman) would see me in that role within an hour of telling me that we would be spending many hours together in the evenings and weekends bringing her up to speed on our financial status. Immediately after seeing the film, she cancelled her request. On our day of infamy, September 11, 2001, I worked assisting Metrorail passengers trying to get out of the city. My son Joel, who was working for the US Attorney for DC was in a building a couple blocks away protected by US marshals heavily armed with machine guns and assault rifles. I spent the next few days working my normal hours in the offices, but also working in our system with the transit police. Since the Pentagon was still burning, I usually returned to the office reeking of burning stuff. I retired the first time for a short period, then was called back to act as the financial manager (part-time) of the rapidly growing transit police. It didn't take long to prove that they needed to hire someone full-time, as I was also acting as the grant manager and grant finder. In the meantime, the Feds tried to hire me. I retired again, and got a new hip.. That 2nd retirement lasted 2 years when the then new Department of Homeland Security recruited me to a new transit security grant manager job. It was an amazing job for 3+ years, but the bureaucracy became too deadening so I retired a last time. During this period, I worked to connect grants with the science behind the equipment governments were buying. I lead two international conferences on standards,...Expand for more