Bacarra Sanderson Mauldin is the Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA), where she works to ensure the efficient operation of transit services and internal success of its employees. In addition, she is responsible for leading stakeholder and community engagement locally, across the State of Tennessee and nationally. Prior to this role, she served as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of MATA.
Bacarra has extensive public sector experience, having served on the executive cabinet of former Birmingham Mayor William Bell, was Executive Director of the Birmingham Regional Paratransit Consortium, Director of Policy and Innovation at the Regional Transit Authority of New Orleans and was the Chief Executive Officer of the Chatham Area Transit Authority in Savannah, Georgia.
Bacarra currently serves on the Board of the American Public Transit Association (APTA) and the American Public Transportation Foundation (APTF). She is also a past member of the APTA Executive Committee, having served from 2015-2017. Bacarra is a current member of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) and is the president of the Memphis Chapter. Recently, she was honored with the Thomas G. Neusom Founder’s Leadership Award, the highest individual honor that COMTO bestows. She previously served as vice president of the Georgia Public Transit Association and is a current member of the Tennessee Public Transportation Association.
Bacarra holds a Master of Science in Management and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama. She is a member of St. Augustine Catholic Church and is active in the greater Memphis community. She is a member of the Leadership Memphis Class of 2023, and is a member of the Memphis Chamber Chairman’s Circle. She is in the Memphis Symphony Circle of Friends and is a member of its Board of Trustees. Bacarra also serves on the Southwest Community College Foundation Board of Trustees, the Junior League of Memphis Advisory Board and the Women’s Foundation of Greater Memphis Board of Directors. She is an active member of the Memphis Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., where she serves alongside hundreds of dynamic women as the Social Action Committee Chairperson.
