Who We Are

Patrick Vaughan

Chief Executive Officer

Patrick Vaughan, Chief Executive Officer of Student Transportation of America, has over 45 years of experience in the transportation industry with the most recent 31 years devoted to student transportation and passenger safety. In 1977, Mr. Vaughan began his career in transportation & logistics with St. Johnsbury Trucking Company, a less-than-truckload carrier owned by Sun Oil Corporation. In 1988, Mr. Vaughan joined the Connecticut based retail firm of Ames Department Stores where he was Vice President of Transportation & Logistics. In 1991, Mr. Vaughan joined Laidlaw Transit Inc. as Director of Operations and was promoted in 1996 to the position of Senior Vice President. Upon the acquisition of Laidlaw Transit Inc., by First Group in 2007, Mr. Vaughan was appointed to the role of Chief Operating Officer and charged with the effective integration of the two largest student transportation providers in the industry. In 2017, he was named the President of STA's newly formed School Transportation Group. Mr. Vaughan has been awarded the National School Transportation Association’s Golden Merit Award for his dedication and commitment to the school bus industry, and is a graduate of Suffolk University, with a B.S. in Business Administration. He is a current member of the Board of Directors of the National School Transportation Association. 

Patrick J. Walker

Chief Financial Officer

Patrick J. Walker, the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of STA, has over 35 years of financial management experience with the most recent 20 years devoted to the Company. Mr. Walker began his career as an accountant with the Philadelphia CPA firm of Tait, Weller and Baker, followed by the New York firm of McGladrey & Pullen. Between 1989 and 1992, Mr. Walker was employed with the global food products conglomerate TLC Beatrice International Holdings, Inc., as Manager of Accounting and Financial Reporting. In 1992, Mr. Walker joined Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, the largest regional operator of theme parks in the United States, as Corporate Controller, before being promoted to Vice President of Finance in 1998. From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Walker served as Chief Financial Officer of two portfolio companies of Indigo Capital, a private equity firm. Prior to his appointment at the Company, Mr. Walker was a consultant to the Chief Financial Officer of H.J. Heinz Company. Mr. Walker became Chief Financial Officer of the Company in November 2002, and has developed strong relations with lenders and the capital markets through the Company’s IPO on the TSX in December 2004, dual listing on the NASDAQ in September 2011 and go-private sale in April 2018. Mr. Walker is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Institute of Management Accountants. 

Gene Kowalczewski

Chief Operating Officer

Gene Kowalczewski, Chief Operating Officer, has over 30 years of experience in the student transportation industry with a dedicated focus on operational safety. Mr. Kowalczewski joined Laidlaw Transit Inc. in 1991 as a Financial Controller and served in multiple capacities at Laidlaw, including Director of Operations, Director of Business Development, Vice President of Operations and Senior Vice President of Operations. After Laidlaw was acquired by First Student, Mr. Kowalczewski was appointed Senior Vice President of East Coast Operations. Mr. Kowalczewski joined Student Transportation of America in 2009 and was named Chief Operating Officer of North American Operations in 2018. He has been awarded recognition by the New York School Bus Contractors Association and National Association for Pupil Transportation. Mr. Kowalczewski presently serves on the Board of Directors for the National School Transportation Association and previously served on the Board of Directors for the New York School Bus Contractors Association, The Aurora Waldorf School, and Academy of Aurora. Mr. Kowalczewski is actively involved in the community and coached High School Basketball and Volleyball for over 10 years.

Thomas J. Yessman

Executive Vice President of Shared Services

Thomas Yessman joined Student Transportation of America in 2012 and oversees the Shared Services Team that is responsible for Procurement, IT Infrastructure, IT System Development, and Integrations & Data Analytics. Mr. Yessman was a Managing Director at Harborstone Financial Group, Inc. where he worked on mergers and acquisitions in the transportation and aviation industries among others. He served as a Director at NHB Advisors, Inc. where he worked on numerous bankruptcy cases representing both Debtors and Creditor Committees in Chapter 11 proceedings. Mr. Yessman also worked on numerous turnarounds at NHB in the large format printing industry, chemical distribution industry, and the heavy equipment construction distribution industry, among others. Mr. Yessman is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

Kirk Wilkie

Senior Vice President of Central & Western Operations

Kirk Wilkie has more than 30 years of experience in the student transportation industry. During his career, he has held senior-level positions in both Finance and Operations. Mr. Wilkie served as Chief Financial Officer for Durham Transportation and its parent company, National Express Corporation. In these roles, he led business financing initiatives as well as annual business planning and budgeting processes for both organizations. Mr. Wilkie also served as President of both the MV Transportation East Region Operations and MV Student Transportation. Most recently with STA, Mr. Wilkie has operating responsibility for the Company’s Central and Western Region. These regions encompass operations in 11 states across the western half of the U.S. He leads the growth effort for both regions while working to provide safe, reliable transportation to each of STA’s customers.

Paul J. Fichner

Senior Vice President of Pennsylvania & Maryland Operations

Paul J. Fichner, the Senior Vice President of the Company’s Pennsylvania-Maryland Region has over 35 years of transportation and logistics experience, which includes over 28 years dedicated to safe, reliable student transportation. Over the span of his school bus career, Mr. Fichner has held senior level positions in both Operations and Business Development. At Laidlaw Transit Inc./First Student, he was the Mid-Atlantic Region Vice President of Operations before assuming the role of Vice President, Business Development for the Eastern U.S. He held the position of Vice President, Acquisitions for Petermann Bus as well as Vice President Operations, Northeast Region, for Durham School Services. Prior to entering the student transportation industry in 1994, Mr. Fichner worked for Airborne Express and held leadership positions in both Operations and Sales/Customer Support. Mr. Fichner earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Rutgers University, and a Master of Business Administration from LaSalle University. 

Christopher J. Harwood

President of Canadian Operations

Christopher J. Harwood, President of Student Transportation of America's Canadian operating subsidiary, has 33 years of experience in the passenger transportation industry. From 1989 to 1997, Mr. Harwood was employed by Laidlaw Passenger Services and its subsidiary, American Medical Response. He held various positions at Laidlaw, including Acquisition Analyst, Manager of Financial Planning Analysis and Director of Acquisitions. Mr. Harwood joined Student Transportation of America as Vice President of Acquisitions and was named Corporate Vice President of Finance in 1999. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ontario, received an Honors Business Administration degree from the University of Western Ontario, and is past president of both the Ontario School Bus Association and its successor, School Bus Ontario.

Shelly Hall

Senior Vice President of Health & Safety

Shelly Hall has over 30 years of experience in Health and Safety. She spent the first 13 years of her career in the insurance industry providing safety consulting services to large industries including UPS and Darden Restaurants. Ms. Hall’s main areas of focus were OSHA compliance, safety training, accident, and injury mitigation, and managing behavior-based safety programs for fleets, general industry, and restaurants. She then put her transportation safety consulting skills to work for a large public transportation provider, Veolia Transportation, later known as Transdev Services Inc. Ms. Hall was a Regional Director for 5 years and was promoted to Vice President of Safety and Training where she served as an Executive for 7 years. She began her career at STA in 2017.  In her current role, Ms. Hall is responsible for the safety and health of all employees at STA.  She initiated a new safety policy and procedure manual, led the creation of our COVID response plan, and formalized the company’s audit process. During her time at STA, Ms. Hall and her safety team have modernized the way safety and compliance is managed at all levels of the organization. She has led the integration of major safety and compliance systems, automating the hiring and compliance processes. Her focus on accident and injury tracking, trending and KPI management has helped STA reduce their accident and injury frequency rates companywide.

David Frenzia

Senior Vice President of Human Resources & Legal Affairs

In his role as Senior Vice President, Human Resources & Legal Affairs, David Frenzia is responsible for leading Human Resources, Benefits, and Payroll. Additionally, as one of two in-house attorneys, Mr. Frenzia is also responsible for providing day-to-day advice and guidance on a variety of legal issues, handling various legal matters, and selecting and managing outside counsel. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Southwest Missouri State University and received his Juris Doctor degree from Saint Louis University School of Law. Mr. Frenzia works closely with Operations, Safety, and Risk. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Dave now resides in New Jersey and is based in the Company’s corporate headquarters in Wall, New Jersey.