FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 16, 2007

MELODY SAWYER RICHARDSON NEW S.O.R.T.A. CHAIRPERSON

CINCINNATI - Melody Sawyer Richardson has been unanimously elected Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA). SORTA operates the Metro and Access public transportation services in Greater Cincinnati. She has served on the SORTA board since 2003.

Ms. Richardson fills the position vacated by Lamont Taylor, who resigned as SORTA chairman effective today to fulfill commitments with the American Public Transportation Association. Mr. Taylor will remain on the SORTA board.

"I would like to reiterate our commitment to provide bus service to the people of Cincinnati who need it and those in the region who want it," Ms. Richardson said. "We at SORTA are looking forward to a new era of collegiality and cooperation with the city and county and are eager to engage in full partnership with them on all transportation initiatives."

"We thank Lamont Taylor for his leadership as chairman and we remain committed to our mission to provide cost-effective, efficient, quality mass transit services within available resources to enable people to access their chosen activities in our community."

Ms. Richardson is Director of the Commercial Real Estate Division of Comey & Shepherd. Her specialty is the sale of unique and historic properties, and her mission is to bring people and businesses back to the urban core.

Previously an attorney with the Wall Street firm of Lord, Day Lord Barrett Smith, she subsequently served as Associate Counsel of Chase Manhattan Bank (NY) and then Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary of Bellemead Development Corporation. After returning to Cincinnati, she became Vice President & General Counsel of Cincinnati Arts Association.

Ms. Richardson has served on many local and national boards including the Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors' Bureau, Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, SPCA, International Sculpture Center, the US Dept. of State Fine Arts Committee, and is now a Vice Regent for the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association where she represents Ohio. She chairs Second Sunday on Main, an economic development marketplace on upper Main Street in Over the Rhine, an area about which she is most passionate.

After receiving a Master's in Social Work from Ohio State University, she earned an MBA from Rutgers's School of Management and JD from Rutgers's Law School. She is admitted to the bar in New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Kentucky.

SORTA employs approximately 900 people and operates 390 Metro fixed-route buses and 53 Access paratransit buses, providing approximately 22 million rides per year in the greater Cincinnati area.

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