Katherine Conrad

As the Director for NEORide, Katherine Conrad oversees the day-to-day needs of 25 transit members across Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas, West Virginia and Michigan, including executing special projects, grants and marketing. In 2019, she spearheaded the effort to launch EZfare, the largest multi-county mobile ticketing system in the country. Her focus is on expanding regional transportation and coordinated services. Katherine has been able to obtain over $9 million in state and federal funding for NEORide agencies to make this work possible. In 2021, under her leadership, NEORide was awarded Best Smart Ticketing App by Transport Ticketing, a global recognition. 

Before joining NEORide, Katherine was the Director of Planning at the Portage Area Regional Transit Authority and SARTA for a combined 10 years.  During this time, she received millions in federal and state grants, lead a full transit redesign project and created innovative new marketing and transit programmes that have been replicated across the country. In addition, Katherine has been involved on government and lobbying efforts on the state and national level. Before coming to transit, Katherine was a Vice President at Burges & Burges, the leading strategic planning and political consulting firm in the State of Ohio.