Marion Colston
Marion Jane Colston recently promoted to the Office of Strategic Workforce Planning (OSWP), which reports directly to the Executive Director, Strategic Workforce Planning. In her new role, Marion will be responsible for determining an agency-wide workforce planning tool and a succession planning program based on agency business requirements. The OSWP has been asked to address present and anticipated workforce issues (i.e. employee turnover, retirement vulnerability and the identification of performance gaps). In addition, the OSWP will work with veteran's organizations to develop a comprehensive Veteran's Hiring Initiative to, "Brand Metro as a veteran friendly employer."
In her former role as the Director of Organizational Development & Training, she was responsible for leading all aspects of the agency's employee and management development training programs, strategic planning initiatives, tuition assistance, corporate and professional memberships, high school and college internship program and organizational development (i.e. team development, team partnering, organizational assessments and streamlining processes, etc.). Ms. Colston oversaw and managed Metro's $2M training and development budget and directed LA County's Signal Synchronization training program.
At Metro, Ms. Colston held the following posts, Manager of Strategic Planning and Organizational Development, Manager of Human Resources Development and Training and worked on many strategic initiatives that involved the following strategic business units (i.e. Administration, Construction, Human Resources, Labor/Employee Relations, Procurement, Planning, Office of the CEO, CFO, Risk Management and Operations, etc.).
Prior to joining the transit agency, Ms. Colston held various organizational development and training positions with both public and private sectors. She served as Chief Officer of Subway-Elevated for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), Contract Liaison for the Delaware County Office of Services for the Aging, and held a position as Academic Counselor for Widener University, located in PA.
Ms. Colston has a Master's of Education from Antioch University, Yellow Springs, Ohio and a Bachelor of Science Degree from Cheyney State University. Ms. Colston sits on two Transportation Research Board Standing Committees, ABC10 Strategic Management and ABG20 Transportation Education and Training and serves the term indicated between 04/15/2013 – 04/15/2016. In addition, Ms. Colston currently sits on a Transportation Research Board Panel for TCRP Project F-19 entitled, "National Training and Certification Program for Transit Vehicle Maintenance Instructors." In 2009, Marion Jane Colston received the National Transit Institute's Achievements in Transit Training Award for partnering with Metro's Construction Department and the Los Angeles Community College District in recognition for designing and developing a Model Program entitled, "Sustainability Awareness."
In April 2012, Marion was invited to present at the 1st National Transportation Workforce Summit, which convened in Washington, D.C. and organized by the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC). Marion served as the 2nd Vice-President for the San Fernando Valley Leadership Institute and currently is the President of the Southern California Regional Chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO). Ms. Colston is a San Fernando Valley resident and a member of the 1997-98 graduating class of the San Fernando Valley Leadership Institute. She has two sons; one is a 2009 graduate of Cal State Northridge and a former CSUN Basketball player whose team won the 2008 Big West Conference and one son who currently resides in Burlington, New Jersey.
In August 2014, Marion was named to the Board of Directors for the Southern California Regional Transit Training Consortium.
