Public Transportation Honorees

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION HONOREE

Ari Jolly Chair, Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) Board of Directors Assistant General Counsel, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida

Ari Jolly is a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (Florida Blue) Assistant General Counsel. In this role, Ari is responsible for providing primary legal support to Florida Blue on governance, merger and acquisitions, and counsel to Investment and Corporate Development operations of the mutual holding enterprise. Ari also provides board governance support related to GuideWell Mutual Holding Corporation subsidiary and joint venture companies. Ari joined Florida Blue in 1993. Before joining Florida Blue, Ari practiced with the law firm of Rogers, Towers, Bailey, Jones and Gay in Jacksonville, Florida. Ari also served as an Officer in the United States Navy in the office of the Judge Advocate General from 1983 – 1990 and the recipient of a Navy Achievement Medal (1987). Throughout her career, Ari has been active in community and professional organizations. She is a member of the Florida and Jacksonville Bar and also serves on the boards of the Greater Jacksonville Area USO and the Naval Continuing Care Retirement Foundation, Inc. (Fleet Landing). In 2015, Ari became a gubernatorial appointee to the board of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and currently serves as the Chair of that board. That year, Ari was also named as one of Northeast Florida’s Most Influential Women. In 2019, she was elected to the American Public Transportation Association’s Board of Directors. Ari also earned a seat on the Board of the Directors for the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization in 2020. Ari graduated from Jacksonville University (1983) and the Florida State College of Law (1990), with Highest Honors. While at the Florida State College of Law, Ari was an Associate Editor on the Law Review as well as a member of the Order of the Coif. Ari is also an honors graduate from the Naval Legal Justice School, Newport, Rhode Island (1984). Ari previously spoke on the topics of “Doing Blue Plan Alliances: Tales from the Front Lines” at the 2006 40th Annual BCBSA Lawyers Conference and “Doing Plan Alliances: Lessons Learned” at the 2007 41th BCBSA Lawyers Conference. She has also presented on the topics of Women Veterans and the Multicultural US Armed Forces.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION HONOREE

Melissa Rolle-Scott Transit Section Chief, Office of Safety & Security, Miami-Dade Department of Transportation & Public Works

Melissa Rolle-Scott is a U.S. Department of Transportation Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellow with 30 years of experience in the mass transportation (bus, rail and automated guideway) industry. She currently serves as the Transit Section Chief in the Office of Safety & Security for the Miami-Dade County (MDC) Department of Transportation & Public Works (DTPW). She is responsible for providing leadership in the planning and directing of Internal Audits. She is the department’s liaison for safetyrelated state and federal audits. Ms. Rolle-Scott has provided leadership in several divisions of the Miami-Dade DTPW, which includes: Safety & Security: Transit Services Administration; Maintenance Control; Customer Service; and the Automated Fare Collection System. Before joining DTPW, she worked as an Industrial Engineer for Martin Marietta Denver Aerospace. Ms. Rolle-Scott is very active in the transportation industry. She currently serves on the National Board of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO). She also serves on the COMTO Scholarship, CITY Internship and Industry Awards committees. Locally, she serves as an At-Large Member of the COMTO Miami Chapter Board. She has also served as a Transit Research Innovative Program Ambassador and several TCRP Research Panels. She is a 2002–2003 graduate of the Leadership American Public Transit Association (APTA) and serves on APTA Committees. Ms. Rolle-Scott contributes to her community’s well-being in numerous ways. She is an MDC Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) mentor and has volunteered as a KAPOW teacher and SECME judge at various schools. She also serves on MDC’s Black Heritage Planning Committee, where she chairs the annual South Dade Gospel Fest. As President & CEO of the Mt. Calvary Community Development Center, she is responsible for providing leadership to govern such activities as Senior & Youth Computer Training, Youth Photography, and food/clothing distribution.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION HONOREE

Michele Wong Krause Chair, Dallas Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors

Michele Wong Krause, a Hispanic, Asian and Native Hawaiian attorney, presently serves as the Chair of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board of Directors. As a staunch champion of public transit, Michele serves on the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Executive Committee and as the Secretary of the Transit Board Members (TBM) Committee. From her work on the Leadership APTA Committee to her work on the TBM Committee, she has brought her board room experience and enthusiasm for the transformative nature of public transit to APTA. Michele is a trailblazer in both the transit and legal communities. She is the first Latina and the first Asian American to serve as DART Chair. Michele was the first Asian female to be elected to the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas; the first Asian attorney to be elected to represent Dallas on the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas, and the first Asian attorney to be appointed to the Board of Directors of the Texas Equal Access to Justice Foundation. A former City of Dallas Associate Municipal Judge, currently in private law practice with the Wong Krause Law Firm in Dallas, Michele has had a long history of working to advance the interests and opportunities of the minority community and of bringing forward equity and implicit bias programs at conferences across the nation.