ITSA: John Collins out

John Collins is out as CEO of ITS America. Led by gutsy chairman Hal Worrall of OOCEA the ITS board of directors told Collins he would have to accept detailed direction from the board, or go. He went – after two years on the job.

Collins was in many ways a welcome contrast to his predecessor Jim Costantino. Collins is quietly spoken, straightforward, smart, and unflappable. Costantino was none of those things. But for all his temper tantrums and devious ways Costantino was better than Collins at making his presence felt and getting attention for ITS in the intensely competitive lobbying and policy environment of the national capital.

And Collins irritated many with the environmentalist line that the era of road construction is at an end, and ITS will substitute for new lanes. Anyone who tries to tell that stuff to a board chairman presiding over massive new lane-building in Orlando is asking for trouble.

Most executives of real roads – as opposed to Washington DC lobbyists – live with the need to do both new lanes and ITS.

The biggest mistake the board of ITSA ever made was its failure to back Hal Kassoff against Costantino (TRnl#16 Jun 97 p11). A real highwayman and longtime practioner of ITS at Maryland State Highway Admin and an excellent advocate, Kassoff was recruited by the board back in 1997 as deputy to Costantino on the understanding he would succeed him within a year. But as soon as Kassoff arrived at the offices of ITSA, Costantino told him there was nothing for him to do, and that his hiring was a mistake. He was going to be stuck in a room with no work! The board let Costantino get away with his skewering of his chosen successor, so Kassoff resigned, vowing to have nothing to do with the organization again. He’s now at PB.

But with a new board...?