With more than 20 years of experience, General Manager Donna Zampella is an exceptional member of RATP Dev’s management team. Since December 2018, Donna has managed the Oxford University Transit (OUT) in Oxford, Mississippi, which encompasses services for the City of Oxford, as well as the University of Mississippi.  With a ridership exceeding 1 million passengers annually, OUT is the most utilized transit system in Mississippi.

Since becoming General Manager, Donna and her team have worked in coordination with OUT to support, develop, and enhance several areas of service, including: 

• Managing the 1.3-million-dollar facility renovation beginning January 2020 and completed September 2020, on-time and within budget.
• Procuring eight (8) 30’ Low Floor Heavy Duty Buses and two (2) Vans.
• Creating an extensive safety program for new hires and existing employees.
• Installing safety barriers in all transit buses between each seat for added protection during the pandemic.
• Reworking and adding routes to incorporate the Affordable Housing neighborhoods and the annexed area within the city limits.
• Managing 65 employees with an annual budget of over 5 million dollars with 34 transit vehicles.
• Continuing the trend of increasing ridership each year, prior to the pandemic, reaching over 1.2 million passengers in 2019.

Prior to becoming the General Manager for Oxford University Transit, Donna was the Office Manager for Oxford University Transit, providing her with additional expertise on the nuances of transit within the city. While in this role, Donna:

• Enhanced employee training in introducing effective leadership in every aspect of your life.
• Developed a standardized filing system for important documents. This created a system in which documents were more easily accessible to support audits and annual reviews by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. 

Beyond her work with OUT, Donna is also an active member in the transit industry, and the community. She is a member of the Mississippi Public Transit Association (MPTA), Community Transportation

Association of America (CTAA), Regional Leader, for the Northeast Mississippi Region, chairman the City of Oxford Affordable Housing Committee, chairman of LOU Home and a mentor for the RATP Dev USA Leadership Mentor Program.  Additionally, she was presented the Outstanding Staff Member Award from the Mississippi Department of Transportation, 2021.  Donna has also been recognized by RATP Dev, USA for numerous safety recognitions for the operation of OUT and was a spokeswoman at RATP Dev’s Women in Leadership Meeting in 2019.