Jon Monson

Jon Monson is the chairman of MV’s board of directors and former chief executive officer. In his 30+ year career, Monson has contributed greatly to the passenger transportation industry. Few leaders in public transportation possess his resume, qualifications, and successes.
From 1999 through 2008, Monson served as MV’s chief executive officer. Under his direction and leadership, the company grew considerably – from $25M to more than $450 million without major acquisition or merger – and transformed from a local San Francisco Bay area company to a national industry leader.

Monson has been instrumental in a number of MV’s contract awards, including its work with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority, New York City Transit, and the Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority in Orlando, Florida. A leader in paratransit management, Monson’s guiding philosophy remains “we must treat passengers with the dignity and respect that reminds each and every person that they are the reason MV is in business.”

In 1977 Monson took an after-school job as a paratransit operator in Hemet, Calif. Hired to transport elderly and disabled riders, Monson says he fell in love with his work, and pursued a career in the industry. In the 34 years since, Monson has held responsibility for hundreds of publicly funded transportation operations, and has personally managed more than 100 contract start-ups.

While with DAVE Transportation, Monson gained valuable experience as a driver and dispatcher for Tri Delta Transit. Later, he was promoted to a regional management position in Southern California.

Monson later joined Mayflower as the vice president of operations where he was responsible for more than 70 contract implementations and helped the company expand to more than 150 contracts. When Mayflower was acquired by Laidlaw Transit Services, Monson transitioned into the role of area vice president where he supervised operations budgets in excess of $200 million and oversaw a workforce of more than 6,000.

Monson’s list of accomplishments is long and varied, yet the one of which he is most proud is the successful redesign of the Minneapolis paratransit system following a total system failure in 1993. After the state’s Governor was forced to request the assistance of the National Guard to assist in ensuring service to the public was not halted, Monson quickly took action by installing new technology to aid in stabilizing the service. His ability to transform this operation made it possible for Metro Transit to eliminate their paratransit brokerage and re-establish transportation in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area.

Monson is a founding board member and former officer of CalACT (California Transit Association) and is a past chairman of the board for the Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce. Monson attributes all of his successes to never forgetting where he started his career and how important bus operators are to their passengers and the communities they serve.