North County Transit – San Diego Railroad Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Mary Dover was named in Mass Transits 40 under 40 list, “an annual recognition program by Mass Transit magazine that honors 40 outstanding young professionals under the age of 40 who are making significant contributions, demonstrating leadership and driving innovation in the public transportation industry.”
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One word to describe yourself: Determined
Alma Mater: San Diego State University
Fast fact: I’m a proud dog mom to a six-year-old snuggly guard dog.
What’s your best experience on transit and what made it memorable? I rode NCTD’s COASTER commuter rail service to and from work for years. I don’t think I can distill one particular experience as being the most memorable, but I always appreciated the freedom it gave me. I could get some work done, watch TV, unwind and of course, take in the amazing views of the ocean along the ride.
Mary Dover is described as to have centered her career in public service through her work with congressional delegates and now at the North County Transit – San Diego Railroad (NCTD), where she currently serves as deputy chief operating officer. Dover’s expertise of the industry has been honed through partnerships between both transit peers and political partners, working for former U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and in San Diego County at NCTD. Her approach is recognized as always being authentic, willing to make meaningful changes throughout the organization even when difficult conversations or actions are required.
Dover’s work from the political advocacy standpoint has led to NCTD generating millions of dollars in grant revenues from federal and state governments to advance critical projects both in the rail and bus corridors. Additionally, Dover has worked with local government agencies to further long-range planning items, such as grade separation and rail realignment projects that focus on the safety and security of all transportation modes in the region. The most visible of those is NCTD’s project to realign the Del Mar Bluffs, an approximately $5billion capital project that plans to relocate an over 100-year-old track alignment to a safer long-term location along the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) rail corridor, which traverses next to the Pacific Ocean.
During her time serving in Feinstein’s office, Dover worked closely with all the transportation partners in the district to assist in securing federal funds for local and county-wide projects. The largest of these projects were located along the LOSSAN corridor, helping to provide double tracking and positive train control funding to improve both movement and safety within the right-of-way. She also worked to improve pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure in San Diego County.
Dover continues this work through her oversight of the government relations team and the marketing and communications and customer service departments, also serving as the agency’s public information officer. Her team rebranded the organization on the year of several milestones for the agency, such as its 50th anniversary, the 30th anniversary of COASTER Commuter Rail Service and the 50th anniversary of BREEZE Bus Service. Without the need for an outside firm, Dover’s team created a new logo and branding livery for the organization and equipment to modernize and reflect on its 50-year journey. This also included changing the agency’s government affairs approach to be more pointed in interactions with local, state and federally elected officials and staff. This has led to strategic changes in both state and federal policies as a result of her work.
Dover has also worked closely with regional and state partners to assist in the development of the agency’s zero-emission program. This includes securing grant funding for the agency’s first hydrogen fueling station, as well as helping to pave a path forward for a potential fully functional hydrogen rail fleet. Further, Dover has advanced changes through the agency’s customer experience teams, nearly tripling NCTD’s presence at community events and securing more outreach than ever before. This included the first live online customer feedback and public hearings, which led to receiving positive input on the region’s first fare change since 2009.
Dover works to maintain a presence both locally and nationally outside of the agency, helping to educate and promote transit whenever possible. Her exterior involvements include presenting at city and county councils, local schools and transit groups, as well as attending pop-up booths at local farmer’s markets and key community events. She is also an active member of the American Public Transportation Association, the California Transit Association and the San Diego Association of Governments. Dover is also a member of Conference of Minority Transit Officials (COMTO), helping set up the 41st Chapter of COMTO in San Diego as an advisory board member. She is also a supporter of Latinos in Transit and WTS.
Is there a specific experience that led you to where you are today?
After college, I began working in federal politics, fielding requests from local constituents and advocacy organizations with the intention of making the lives of Californians better. I assisted in managing the transportation portfolio for the San Diego region and saw firsthand how critical transportation infrastructure is to connect residents and visitors to job opportunities, medical care, education and more. I took the COASTER commuter rail to and from work and built a deep connection with the service. When a position in government affairs became available at NCTD, I was eager to continue my transportation advocacy work and hit the ground running trying to secure funding to improve transit in San Diego. As I grew with NCTD, I forged a greater love for transit that led me into the chief of staff role.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The best part of my job is working with people—operators, engineers, security, payroll, maintenance, admin and everyone else who keeps our service running. Connecting with, cultivating and mentoring our employees is incredibly rewarding and an honor that I’ve been fortunate enough to experience throughout my career.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
The most challenging part of my job is trying to make a meaningful difference and provide exceptional transit service with limited funding. NCTD staff are some of the smartest people in the industry and have generated great ideas to improve and expand our service. Without significant funding support, we aren’t able to reach our full potential and realize all of the benefits of public transit—improved air quality, reduced congestion, safer communities, enhanced quality of life, etc.
What is the accomplishment you’re most proud of and why?
In 2023, I helped our team secure a $100 million grant to build a major infrastructure project on the second busiest intercity rail corridor in the country. The project, once complete, will increase capacity and service reliability, improve state of good repair and mitigate the impacts of flooding on the LOSSAN rail corridor. Securing the funding involved extensive stakeholder collaboration, partnering with multiple teams to develop a successful grant application and executing a multi-faceted strategy to demonstrate the benefits of this project for regional and national transportation infrastructure.
What is an accomplishment you would like to work towards in your career?
I’m looking forward to continuing to grow my knowledge in all aspects of transit. I’ve yet to dive deep into the rail operations and maintenance space and am interested in broadening my knowledge on the different modes of transit within our system, with the ultimate goal of becoming a COO of multiple modes of transit. Different modes that work seamlessly together create ample opportunity for economic growth and prosperity in our communities.
What is your best advice you can share from your area of expertise?
As cliché as it sounds, communication is everything. Ensuring you have a clear and concise message is the key to success in everything we do. Advocating for transit-supportive initiatives is all about explaining the benefits to lawmakers, the public, community organizations, etc., in a way that’s easily understandable and applicable to what’s important to them. Working through a problem on a project or initiative is only solved if all stakeholders have clear expectations and well-defined responsibilities. The successful implementation of a decision that’s made at the executive level is directly tied to whether the people responsible for operationalizing it fully understand the desired outcome. We can bring people along through effective communication.
