Joe Milazzo II, PERTA executive director
Joe has served as Executive Director of the Regional Transportation Alliance, the voice of the regional business community on transportation in North Carolina’s Research Triangle metropolitan area, since the organization’s founding in 2002.
Joe’s primary role is to provide strategic focus and direction for the regional business community to accelerate success on critical regional priorities. RTA brings the business community together, works in concert with elected officials and transportation partners, and inspires consensus and action to ensure that transportation projects take “less forever.”
Under Joe’s leadership, RTA has successfully advocated for the construction and advancement of $3 billion in freeway, street, transit, and airport priorities, including the 540 turnpike, the widening of I-40, a regionwide BRT network, a new primary runway at RDU, dedicated revenue for enhanced transit, and America’s first dynamic left turn intersection.
RTA includes more than 100 of the leading employers in the Raleigh and Durham area, in business sectors as diverse as life sciences, technology, real estate, financial and professional services, and universities, along with key transportation partners. RTA also serves more than 25 chambers of commerce across 13 counties.
Joe holds master’s degrees in both management and civil engineering from NC State and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Penn State. He has been a licensed professional engineer since 1998 and a registered lobbyist in North Carolina for more than 20 years. He is a 2020 graduate of Leadership North Carolina. He and his family live in Cary.
RTA
RTA is the voice of the regional business community on transportation in North Carolina’s Research Triangle region.
RTA
800 S. Salisbury St.
Raleigh NC 27601-2202
919.664.7062
rta@letsgetmoving.org
Jacob RiggRTA membership operations coordinator
Jacob enhances the membership experience and sustains program efficiency for the RTA business coalition. He provides dedicated organizational management through high-level administrative support of the RTA executive director, primary coordination of RTA events and meetings, and ongoing membership program operations.
Jacob has a BS in Communication from the University of North Florida and an AA/AS degree in digital media from Eastern Florida State College. Jacob joined the RTA in 2022.
Michael HoganRTA policy and research coordinator
Michael Hogan, an economist in the Center for Applied Economics and Strategy at RTI International, serves as RTA’s policy and research coordinator through a contract with RTI. Mr. Hogan is responsible for performing research and analysis to advance the priorities and focus areas of the RTA business coalition. He commenced his work for the RTA team in 2022.
Michael’s key professional focus areas include the linkage between the regional economy and urban development, including transit access, workforce, and economic inclusion. He has a BA in Economics from the University of Notre Dame and an MA in City and Regional Planning from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Raleigh Chamber colleaguesRTA is a regional program of the Raleigh Chamber
The Regional Transportation Alliance has been a regional program of the Raleigh Chamber for more than two decades. We rely on our fellow Chamber staff colleagues for administrative, information technology, communications, billing and financial, event management, and other support and expertise including government affairs, economic development and innovation.
You can view the entire Raleigh Chamber staff directory here.
The mission of the Raleigh Chamber is to sustain and further develop a thriving economy and to enhance our community’s quality of life. RTA supports the Chamber’s mission, and the complementary missions of our more than 25 member chambers of commerce across central and eastern North Carolina by delivering business leadership to get our region moving faster.
