First Transit make new appointments to innovation leadership team

Tina Morch-Pierre and Derek Fretheim will both be speaking at Ticketing and Payments later this month

Transport operator First Transit has announced an expansion of its innovation leadership team. Tina Morch-Pierre and Derek Fretheim have joined the organisation as senior directors of innovation, supporting strategic innovation initiatives of mobility as a service (MaaS) and emerging transit technologies.   

Morch-Pierre has more than 25 years of information technology experience, with particular focus on innovation and system integration. Morch-Pierre was most recently at Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) as the assistant vice president of innovation, payment systems and statistical reporting. 

Fretheim has over three decades experience building technologies, platforms, services and sustainable initiatives targeted at improving operations and customer experience in the transportation sector. Fretheim was most recently at moovel as the director of business development. 

“Tina and Derek joining First Transit is major step forward in our continued evolution of expanding mobility and innovation solutions,” said Sean Donovan, vice president of information technology and innovation at First Transit.

“With their experience in transit innovation, we will be able to help our customers provide an enhanced passenger experience.” 

Morch-Pierre earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration and management and a master of business administration from Texas Women’s University. Morch-Pierre is a member of the Secure Technology Alliance, the digital security industry’s premier association.

Fretheim studied at California State University at Fullerton and has been appointed to the Mobility on Demand Alliance Standing Advisory Committee for ITS America, advancing the research and deployment of intelligent transportation technologies. 

Both Morch-Pierre and Fretheim will also be speaking at Intelligent Transport’s upcoming Ticketing and Payments event, which will see transport experts from across the globe come together to discuss the latest innovation in ticketing, as well as debating how the industry ensures transport is accessible to all.

Fretheim will be a panellist on “Creating MaaS: payment and trip planning integration”, in which he and his fellow panellists will discuss how the industry can better integrate trip planning and payment services for passengers.

Morch-Pierre will also be taking part, speaking on our panel entitled “Mobile ticketing – what’s changed and where next?”, where along with other experts she will discuss the latest innovation when it comes to mobile ticketing.