Board

Dick Barnes joined the MTD Board of Trustees in 2018 and has resided within the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District nearly all of his adult life. An Ohio native, he began his studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Illinois) in the fall of 1971 and graduated with a degree in Radio-Television Communications. After working at several area radio stations early in his career, Dick served in media relations for the Parkland College and Illinois athletic departments for 27 years prior to his retirement in 2010. He is active in his church, and in addition to serving on MTD's Board, Dick serves on the Advisory Board for the local Salvation Army. He and his wife of 44-years, Lynn, reside in Champaign.

Alan Nudo joined MTD's Board of Trustees in 2021 and is a long-time business and community leader in Champaign-Urbana.  He worked at Robeson’s Inc., a real estate development corporation for 40 years and retired in 2018 as its president.  He also served as a member of the Champaign County Board from 2006 – 2010.  He continues his civic involvement with a current position on the Champaign-Urbana Library Foundation Board.  His hobbies include coaching basketball for 20 years at the grade school, high school, and college levels.  Alan has been married 50 years to his wife Kassandra and have three adult children:  Nicholas, Sal, and Maggie.      

Paul Debevec has lived in Champaign-Urbana since 1977 at which time he joined the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois.  He is an experimental particle physicist whose research has focused on precision measurements.  Upon his retirement in 2008 he expanded his interests to include energy and sustainability.  He was instrumental in the development of the core course for the Engineering College Masters in Energy Systems.  He taught this course, Energy and Sustainability Engineering, every spring semester from 2010 to 2024.  He also has offered courses on energy issues at OLLI.  He plays bassoon as a member of the Parkland Community Orchestra; he enjoys travel, ballroom dance, and home improvement projects.

Phil Fiscella joined the MTD Board of Trustees in 2019.  He is an entrepreneur, managing a small facilities services business that his father started in 1988 as well as practicing as a Realtor and managing several of his own real estate developments.  His passion is in helping others start vocational businesses and in developing unused real estate into small business spaces. 

Tomas Delgado joined the MTD Board of Trustees in 2020. Tomas works for a non-profit that supports food education, school-based agriculture, and local food procurement in K-12 institutions around the nation and U.S. Territories. With a background in Geography, Tomas is currently completing his graduate degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, focusing on community agricultural resilience and nature-based solutions for mitigating climate change. With a commitment to social and environmental justice, Tomas is passionate about increasing access to public transportation, parks & nature preserves, and local food & agriculture for underserved communities through Urbana-Champaign-based projects and initiatives. 

Sharif Ullah has been a resident of the Champaign-Urbana area for more than 20 years. He received his Master’s in Civil Engineering from the University of Alabama with a focus in Transportation Engineering and received MBA from the Gies College of Business, University of Illinois. He has been working in the transportation engineering and planning sector for more than 20 years and has worked extensively in both public and private sectors. Sharif is also a part-time faculty member affiliated with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois, where he teaches travel demand modeling and public transit planning. Sharif is a firm believer in public transit and its widespread positive impacts on different communities.

H. George Friedman, Jr. has had a lifelong interest in public transit, beginning with his native cities of New Orleans and Shreveport, Louisiana. He has lived in Champaign since January 1965, and is retired from the Computer Science faculty of the University of Illinois. He maintains a web site on Champaign-Urbana transit history. He was first appointed to the CU MTD Board of Trustees in December 1973 to serve the last two years of the term of a trustee who had resigned. He was then appointed to two five year terms, ending in December 1985. He served the last year as Board Chair. He was again appointed to the Board in January 2001, and served until June 2006. He was Board Chair during that time. He has since maintained his interest in MTD.