This new group was created so that MPO leaders can share ideas, experiences, and expertise with their peers. Topics for future meetings include:

• Staffing, Retention, and Succession Planning
• Strategic Plans
• Educating your Board
• Contracting and Consultants
• Data and Software Acquisition
• Organizational Culture and Staff Development

Monthly Touchbases
Leadership meets 1 hour each month to plan meetings and discuss news. This may grow to include in-person meetings in the coming years.

Quarterly Meetings
The MPO Leadership Roundtable meets quarterly. Each leadership member will help AMPO staff identify a topic, find speakers, and moderate 1 meeting per year.

Christopher Evilia has been a professional transportation planner since 1995 with tenures at the Tuscaloosa, Alabama MPO, Waco, Texas MPO and currently at the Lexington, Kentucky Area MPO. Mr. Evilia is the planning manager and director of the Lexington Area MPO overseeing the 2 county planning area, providing long-range transportation policy direction and coordinating regional project development. Prior to coming to Lexington, Mr. Evilia was the Director of the Waco, Texas MPO for 18 years.

Whit Blanton
Forward Pinellas MPO

Whit Blanton, FAICP is the executive director of Forward Pinellas, a special district public agency responsible for countywide planning, integrating use and transportation, and setting priorities for state and federal transportation funding. Hired in 2015 upon the merger of the Pinellas County Metropolitan Planning Organization and Pinellas Planning Council, Whit reports to a board of 13 elected officials representing the county’s 25 local governments. He has 35 years of public and private sector planning experience. Prior to joining Forward Pinellas, he was a founding owner and vice president of Renaissance Planning, based in Orlando. As a consultant, Whit worked with local, state, federal and regional agencies on planning projects and taught training courses across the country.

Kate Morley
MetroPlan

Kate is the Executive Director of MetroPlan in Flagstaff, Arizona. She joined the agency in March of this year. Prior to her role at MetroPlan, she served as the Deputy General Manager of Mountain Line, the public transit agency in Flagstaff where she oversaw the agency’s planning and development functions, and provided leadership on state and federal transit issues. She has a passion for creating policies and programs that support healthy and sustainable communities. Originally from Flagstaff, Kate obtained her Masters of Science in Planning from the University of Arizona in 2010 and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners.

Ben Griffith
Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan COG

Ben Griffith is the Executive Director of the Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Council of Governments (Metro COG) in Fargo, North Dakota, a bi-state MPO serving local jurisdictions in both North Dakota and Minnesota.  Prior to his appointment there in May 2023, he was the Executive Director of the Rochester-Olmsted Council of Governments (ROCOG) in southeastern Minnesota for nearly 6 years.

Ben has been a professional planner in various capacities and positions for nearly 30 years in 7 states and holds professional certifications in planning (AICP), floodplain management (CFM) and urban design (CNU-A), among many others.  Ben’s introduction to MPOs was during his first planning job in Florida, where he was a county trails and greenway planner under ISTEA.

Ben earned a bachelor’s degree in Planning from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and a master’s degree from Mississippi State University in Public Policy & Administration.  Ben is also a Navy veteran and proudly served with the Marines at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  When not working, Ben catches up on his reading, travels with his wife, and watches hockey and college basketball on TV.