Citizens Advisory Board Member
Mr. Plante is a former member of the Metra Board of Directors (2013-2020) who now serves on the Citizen Advisory Board. He retired from the Chicago Transit Authority in 2013 after 35 years at the agency. He began his tenure as a trial attorney, and then moved to trial supervision and then Managing Attorney. He created and managed the CTA’s first in-house major litigation team.
Mr. Plante’s next assignment was Managing Attorney of the Claims Department, which involved management of the in-house claims staff and all pre-litigation claims both against the CTA and those made by the CTA for losses it suffered. From this position, Mr. Plante moved to Managing Attorney of Risk Management, which entailed the identification, management and control of all types of risks. Following the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. Plante’s activities became focused on external risks. As this area began to dominate his work activity, it was a natural move to his next position, Senior Manager of Emergency Preparedness, the position he held upon his retirement.
Mr. Plante, who is accredited by the State of Illinois as a Professional Emergency Manager, served as the CTA representative to the Chicago Urban Working Group Transportation Committee, which assists in coordination of the Urban Area Security Grant Program. He also served as chairman of the Regional Transit Security Working Group, which is responsible for the Regional Transit Security Strategy as well as coordination of the Regional Transit Security Grant funding; the co-chairman of the Regional Catastrophic Planning Team Transportation Committee; and as a member of the Illinois Terrorism Task Force Transportation Committee Evacuation Working Group.
On the Metra Board, Mr. Plante was a strong safety advocate who served as the Board Treasurer and chaired the Board's Safety Committee.
Mr. Plante also served as a member of the Chicago BioWatch Advisory Committee and the Chicago Incident Management Team. He was the leader of the CTA Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Team and is qualified as a Level C HazMat Technician. He continues to serve on the Chicago Local Emergency Planning Committee. He has worked with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management, Chicago Fire Department, Chicago Police Department, Chicago Department of Public Health, Illinois Department of Public Health, Chicago and Illinois Environmental Protection Agencies and suburban police and fire departments in planning and executing drills and exercises.
Mr. Plante has served on the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Board of Directors and as chairman of the APTA Risk Management Committee. He continues as a member of the Risk Management Committee and all the APTA Security Emergency Management Standards Committees.
He lives in Wilmette.
