SOUTH HAMILTON, Mass. — Mark Riccio, the former alternative fuels sales manager for school bus manufacturer Blue Bird, is the new vice president of sales at Highland Electric Transportation Inc. (HET), an owner and operator of electric vehicles for commercial fleets.

Riccio joins a highly skilled team assembled to work in the emergent electric school bus market, according to an announcement from HET. The team’s collective experience in manufacturing, transportation, clean energy, policy, and capital markets exceeds 10 decades.

HET’s business premise is to engage school districts and third-party fleet managers to electrify school buses by offering a turnkey solution involving financing, infrastructure, and vehicle deployment, according to the announcement.

The operator accesses capital at a competitive cost, and its model leverages operational savings and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology to repay the districts’ investment. HET aims to remove the upfront incremental cost barrier, so end users will have access to electric school bus vehicle technology, ensuring the process is as simple as possible for customers.

Riccio has been involved in the school bus market for more than a decade, he told School Bus Fleet. He served as the alternative fuels sales manager for Blue Bird for the majority of his two years there. Riccio also previously held the position of national sales manager for SoundOff Commercial Vehicle Products for seven years, and had worked at a private equity firm.

“HET represents a best-of-breed organization in the emergent electric school bus market," Riccio told SBF. "The summary experience they possess in a myriad of disciplines has no equal in the industry. I was honored to be tapped to join their leadership team. This is absolutely the right place at the right time to engage the market and be a champion for this game-changing technology.”