Here, we share the recipients of our Administrator of the Year award from the last 10 years. These individuals have made significant contributions to the school bus industry at the local, state and national levels.
SBF Administrators of the Year (2004-2013)
2012: Colorado's David Anderson (right), pictured with SBF Executive Editor Thomas McMahon, became the 39th school transportation leader to win SBF's Administrator of the Year award. Anderson is the director of transportation and fleet at Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Thornton. Among his accomplishments at the district has been achieving a savings of $900,000 by orchestrating adjustments to school bell times to make busing more efficient. For more details about Anderson's career, click here.
2011: Florida's Mike Connors was named SBF's 38th Administrator of the Year. Before retiring in 2012, Connors served as director of transportation for Brevard Public Schools in Cocoa, Fla. One of Connors’ top accomplishments at Brevard was a change in bell times that saved the district $1.2 million. To read more about Connors' career, go here.
2010: Pete Japikse (right), pictured with SBF Publisher Frank Di Giacomo, was named SBF's 37th Administrator of the Year. Japikse served as Ohio's state director of pupil transportation before stepping down in 2012. He oversaw many tasks, including managing pupil transportation rules and regulations to make sure they were up to industry standards. For more information about Japikse's career, go here.
2008: Pete Baxter was named SBF's 35th Administrator of the Year. He worked to make his office more efficient through electronic data gathering. In 2010, Baxter retired as the Indiana state pupil transportation director, and then joined Synovia Corp. To read more about his career, go here<
2004: Donald Tudor was named SBF's 31st Administrator of the Year. Tudor worked to pass a South Carolina law prohibiting the use of 15-passenger vans for school transportation. He stepped down from his post as state director of school transportation in 2011. To read more about his career, click here.
2013: New York's Alfred Karam (left), pictured with SBF Executive Editor Thomas McMahon, became the 40th school transportation leader to receive SBF's Administrator of the Year award. Karam is director of transportation at Bethlehem Central School District in Delmar. He has adopted a businesslike approach to transportation, while also focusing on student safety. To read more about Karam's career, click here.
2009: David Pace was named SBF's 36th Administrator of the Year. Pace is the longtime director of pupil transportation services at Virginia Beach (Va.) City Public Schools. To optimize efficiency, Pace devised an innovative five-tier transportation system. In addition, he continually develops new training components and resources for his bus drivers and technicians as well as for students. For more details about his career, click here.
2007: Steve Kalmes was named SBF's 34th Administrator of the Year. Kalmes, who retired from his position as director of transportation services for Anchorage (Alaska) School District in 2012, worked tirelessly to ensure his bus drivers received extensive training. For further details on Kalmes' career, go here.
2006: Derek Graham, section chief of transportation services for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, was SBF's 33rd Administrator of the Year. Graham is widely recognized for the many years of work he dedicated to North Carolina’s Transportation Information Management System, a statewide transportation efficiency project. For more details on Graham's career, go here.
2005: Larry Riggsbee (left), pictured with former SBF editor and associate publisher Steve Hirano, was named SBF's 32nd Administrator of the Year. Among his notable contributions to the industry was starting a campaign to create a school bus stamp that would honor school bus drivers who play a vital role in the educational system and the lives of children. He now serves as executive director of the Tennessee Association of Pupil Transportation. To read more about Riggsbee's career, click here.