FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 11, 2008

S.O.R.T.A. BOARD NAMES 2008 LEADERSHIP

CINCINNATI - Melody Sawyer Richardson has been elected Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) and William Mallory Sr. has been elected Vice Chair. SORTA operates the Metro and Access public transportation services in Greater Cincinnati.

Melody Sawyer Richardson: 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.

William Mallory Sr.: Mr. Mallory serves on the Ohio Elections Commission and the board of the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati. He was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives for 28 years, retiring in 1994 with the record as the longest serving majority leader in Ohio's history and the longest serving Ohio House representative from Hamilton County. President Clinton appointed Mr. Mallory to the National Highway Safety Advisory Committee by President Carter and to the International Trade Advisory Committee.

He has won numerous awards for his support of education, senior citizens, public transportation, mental health, and American Civil Liberties issues, including the Martin Luther King Dream Keeper Award. He is a graduate of Central State University and pursued post-graduate studies at Xavier University. He taught courses at the University of Cincinnati in state government and African-American politics for 25 years.

SORTA employs approximately 900 people and operates 388 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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