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12.14.2024

Fairfield County Director of Transit Featured

National RTAP Review Board Member Spotlight Article – Diana White
Diana P. White, Executive Director of Fairfield County Transit System in Winnsboro, South Carolina, joined the National RTAP Review Board in the Fall of 2024. She is a “true rural” – born in Kingstree, SC and now living in Manning, SC – both towns have populations of only around 3,000 people. And that’s something Diana likes – being far away from busy highway traffic.
Diana received both her Bachelor of Arts degree in Organization Management and her Master of Business Administration from Claflin University in South Carolina, an award-winning historically black university. The school focused on small group learning and Diana enjoyed working with her classmates on collaborative projects – she is still in touch with classmates today and participates in alumni activities.
Her first job was working in a daycare center while still a student, and after graduation, she became an Assistant Manager for Young’s Food Store. But the transit world beckoned, and Diana landed an administrative assistant position at Williamsburg County Transit in 2006, where she learned the ropes of the profession. She rapidly was promoted from administrative assistant to assistant director. In 2020, she joined Fairfield County Transit as their Executive Director.
This visionary leader worked with her team to move routes and add routes to better meet community needs. In just two years, the agency saw an increase in demand-response trips from 9% to 70% - averaging about 100 rides per day. She was able to make a 4-hour route into a 1-hour route and work with the county council to reduce fares on a route to a doctor’s office from $20 to $5. And Diana’s not stopping there! She’s already planning another new route and expanding Fairfield County Transit System’s employment transportation services.
Diana has been a fan of National RTAP resources for a long time and decided to apply when we were looking for new Review Board members. “I want to enhance training and learn from others,” she explains, “It’s a truly wonderful group of people.” As the secretary and treasurer of her local church, Diana is no stranger to volunteering, and we look forward to her participation in our work.
When she’s not working, Diana enjoys spending time with her three children and her brand-new grandbaby – just four months old! A travel enthusiast, “anywhere the kids say let’s go – I’ll be riding.” Of course, Diana loves to take transit, but she’s been a motorcycle rider for much of her life too. She loves cooking, especially comfort food recipes like mac-n-cheese and perlo rice (rice with different types of meat – chicken or pork)
Harking back to the projects she enjoyed so much as a student, Diana offers this advice – “Connecting and working together is the key to overcoming challenges. Reaching out to other people and organizations – you don’t have to do everything by yourself.”
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