Chatham Business Association Hosts Metra Officials

Lee Edwards | As of Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Metra’s Donald A. Orseno, Interim Chief Executive Officer (left) and Janice R. Thomas, Director, U.S. Office of Business Diversity & Civil Rights Technology (right) spoke at the Chatham Business Association’s general membership meeting yesterday.
Metra’s Donald A. Orseno, Interim Chief Executive Officer (left) and Janice R. Thomas, Director, U.S. Office of Business Diversity & Civil Rights Technology (right) spoke at the Chatham Business Association’s general membership meeting yesterday.

The Chatham Business Association (CBA) welcomed high ranking officials from Metra to its monthly general membership meeting at the South Central Community Services Building at 1021 E. 83rd Street. Metra’s Donald A. Orseno, Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Janice R. Thomas, Director from the U.S. Office of Business Diversity & Civil Rights Technology discussed the railroad line’s commitment to Chicagolands’s business community.

“Metra has been in the news a lot over the past few weeks. To say the least, it has been an interesting summer,” said Orseno who has over 40 years of railroad experience. “Metra riders place their lives and trust in us to deliver them, their spouses, children and loved ones to their destination safely and on time. I take that seriously.”

Orseno told the audience that Metra, one of the four largest commuter rail systems in the country, provides 300,000 passenger trips daily and nearly 82 million commuter trips per year via its 11 railroad lines that spans across 500 route miles.

“Metra has a longstanding commitment to working with small businesses. We have Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) participation goals on our projects and we work closely with prime contractors to make sure they meet or exceed these goals,” said Orseno.

Metra has an application process which takes 90 days to complete that certifies a business as a DBE which makes it eligible to secure contracts with Metra. Metra, along with Pace, Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the City of Chicago, are all part of the Illinois Unified Certification Program (IL UCP) which look for DBEs.

Metra defines its DBE contractors as for-profit small businesses that are owned (51% or more), operated, and controlled by an economically disadvantaged individual.

The federally regulated DBE program is managed by the head of the U.S. Office of Business Diversity and Civil Rights, Janice R. Thomas

“The first five years, I would say ten, in business are going to be hard. The money you make you are going to have to retain the earnings and put it back the business. If you don’t learn to do that we will never grow, we will never be successful and we will always have the complaint that our communities are going backward,” said Thomas. “I’m more interested in the growth and sustainability of our company. You can grow fast, but if you don’t figure out how to manage your money, how to have an accountant, how to do your taxes like you’re supposed to, how to pay the money you’re supposed to pay then you’re never going to sustain your business. It’s slow and steady.”

Metra serves Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, Kane and McHenry counties in the Chicago area. It is the sister agency to the Chicago Transit Authority, which provides mass transit rail (the L) and bus service to Chicago and some suburbs, and Pace, which provides bus service primarily in the suburbs.

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