RTA Transportation Breakfast 2023

RTA held an insightful conversation with elected and business leaders around the regional launch of BRT – “bus rapid transit” as well as “Buses Resembling Trains” – and hear about a complementary study of Freeway, Arterial, Street, and Tactical (FAST) transit that will link 5 BRT corridors together and directly serve RDU Airport.

Attendees joined more than 250 community leaders who are devoted to staying on the forefront of the region’s key challenges and opportunities. The RTA Transportation Breakfast is an annual regional business community mainstay event you do not want to miss.

Elected official panelists included:

• Mary-Ann Baldwin, mayor, City of Raleigh
• Harold Weinbrecht, mayor, Town of Cary
• Leonardo Williams, Durham City Council
• Michael Parker, Chapel Hill Town Council
• Vivian Jones, mayor of Wake Forest and chair, Capital Area MPO
• Butch Lawter, chair, Johnston County Board of Commissioners
• Susan Evans, vice chair, Wake County Board of Commissioners
• Mike Dasher, vice chair, Chatham County Board of Commissioners
• Sally Greene, Orange County Board of Commissioners

Business and transportation leader panelists included:

• Jay Irby, First Citizens Bank, RTA chair
• Donald Gintzig, Wake Med Health and Hospitals
• Scott Levitan, Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina
• Gordon Merklein, UNC Chapel Hill
• Than Austin, NC State University
• Bill Sandifer, RDU Airport Authority
• Brandon Jones, NCDOT Division 5
• Sig Hutchinson, chair, GoTriangle
• Ellen Beckmann, Durham County

BRT and FAST Transit overview presenters:

• David Eatman, City of Raleigh
  
• Het Patel, City of Raleigh
• Brian Litchfield, Town of Chapel Hill
• John Vine-Hodge, NCDOT Integrated Mobility Division

You can watch a brief video containing panelist remarks about BRT in the Triangle here.

Presenting sponsor:  Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina

Event Sponsors:  Credit Suisse; Martin Marietta, Town of Cary

Presenting Sponsor ($5,000)

• Event “presented by” your company
• Opportunity to participate in event agenda
• Prominent recognition at event and on RTA event webpage
• Plus all Event Sponsor benefits below
• Restricted to RTA Sustaining Gold or higher members and Senior Regional Partners

Event Sponsor  ($999)

• Company name displayed on event signage and event agenda
• Name and verbal recognition at event
• Name recognition in RTA promotional e-mails and on RTA event webpage
• Registration for six (6) participants at event with at-table name recognition
• RTA membership is not required to serve as an Event Sponsor

Note:  RTA Gold, Silver, and Bronze memberships also include recognition benefits at and tickets to all events

Directions to RTA Transportation Breakfast 2023 at Westin Raleigh-Durham Airport

• I-540 to exit 3 / Lumley Rd.
  
• From EB 540 (i.e., from I-40): Left onto Lumley at end of off-ramp, then right at next signal onto Arco Corporate Drive…
• From WB 540 (i.e., from US 70): Straight across Lumley at end of off-ramp onto Arco Corporate Drive…
• Once on Arco Corporate Drive, travel 3/4 mile to first stop sign at Macaw Street
• Left onto Macaw Street, travel less than 1/4 mile
  
• Westin hotel and parking is on left side
  

The RTA Transportation Breakfast, presented by the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina was an opportunity for the regional business community to come together and celebrate purposeful, collaborative, and focused efforts on mobility innovation that is literally changing and saving lives. For this year, we heard  from RTA Gold member United Therapeutics and two of their partner companies on an initiative that represents the marriage of life science and mobility.

You can view the entire RTA Transportation Breakfast deck here.

You can also download the videos from several of our keynote speakers:  (Blain Newton, BETA Technologies;  Mikael Cardinal, Unither Bioélectronique;  Thomas Kaufman, United Therapeutics).

8:00 am                 Arrival, registration, networking

8:40 am                 Welcome Remarks                                                                  

• Harold Hicks, RTA chair
• Scott Levitan, President/CEO RTP

 Keynote presentations                                                                                         

• Blain Newton, Beta Technologies
• Dewey Steadman, United Therapeutics
• Mikael Cardinal, Unither Bioelectronique Inc.
• Thomas Kaufman, United Therapeutics
• See below for more information about our 2022 keynote speakers

Panel Discussion + Q&A 

• RTA keynote presenters and speakers
• Joe Milazzo II, PE,  RTA Executive Director – moderator

Special report from RDU Airport

• Patrick Hannah, RDU Authority chair

Closing remarks and adjourn

• RTA Sustaining Gold members and above receive 8 tickets
• RTA Gold members receive 4 tickets
• RTA Silver members, Senior Regional Partners, and Bronze members receive 2 tickets 
• RTA Standard members have 1 ticket
• $75 – RTA member additional ticket
• $150 – Non-RTA member ticket 
• $75 – Nonprofit partner ticket
• $45 – Public sector partner ticket 

Registration deadline:  Friday, July 15, 2022. Registration has closed for this event.

To sponsor the event, please email: Jacob@letsgetmoving.org

To download a draft list of current registrations for the event, click here.

• Research Triangle Foundation of NC  (presenting sponsor)
  
• TowneBank  (Sponsor)
• Credit Suisse (Sponsor)
• Town of Cary (Sponsor)

Presenting Sponsor ($5,000)

• Event “presented by” your company
• Opportunity to participate in event agenda
• Reserved parking with firm logo
• Prominent recognition at event and on RTA event webpage
• Plus all Event Sponsor benefits below
• Restricted to RTA Sustaining Gold members and Senior Regional Partners

Event Sponsor  ($999)

• Company name displayed on event signage and event agenda
• Name and verbal recognition at event
• Name recognition in RTA promotional e-mails and on RTA event webpage
• Registration for six (6) participants at event
• RTA membership is not required to serve as an Event Sponsor.

Note:  RTA Gold, Silver, and Bronze memberships also include recognition benefits at all events

Sign-up online to sponsor or email Jacob@letsgetmovingorg.

• United Therapeutics / Silver Spring, MD, Research Triangle Park, NC – UT has multiple active organ manufacturing programs and is a pioneer in xenotransplantation. UT is the first biotech/biopharma to take the form of a public benefit corporation.
• BETA Technologies / Burlington, VT – Beta is developing electric vertical aircraft (EVA) and an extended charging infrastructure network.
• Unither Bioélectronique / Bromont, QC – UB is researching the adaptation of electric vehicle aircraft for UT corporate focus/manufactured organ delivery.

The Regional Transportation Alliance is the voice of the regional business community on transportation in North Carolina’s Research Triangle region, and a regional program of the Raleigh Chamber.

Founded in 2002, RTA is a metropolitan, private-public partnership that drives consensus and action. More than 100 leading companies work in concert through the RTA alongside 25 member chambers of commerce across 12 counties and a host of number of regional partners.

RTA delivers business leadership to get our region moving faster. Learn more at letsgetmoving.org.

RTA is a regional program of the Raleigh Chamber, which has determined that this event is permitted under Section 138A-32(e)(1)c of the General Statutes.

2021 event:  The Future of Business Travel and RDU

On July 9, 2021, the regional business community received updated recommendations for ensuring the long-term success of RDU International at the RTA 2021 Transportation Breakfast event, held in person at The Umstead Hotel and Spa.

The RTA RDU AID Task Force presented new findings on how we can advance a sustainable airport funding model amidst rapid growth in our market.

Speakers included Michael Schoenfeld, Duke University, RTA chair, and Harold Hicks, Fidelity Investments, RTA incoming chair, among other RTA RDU AID task force members.

We also welcomed guest speaker Scott McCartney, Wall Street Journal, travel editor and author of the Middle Seat column, who spoke to the national landscape for commercial aviation and provided insights on post-pandemic air travel from a business perspective.