LITA Holds Its Debut Meeting

LITA President Douglas Schwartz of Executive Limousine Long Island —The inaugural meeting of newly formed Long Island Transportation Association (LITA) was held November 14 at the Melville Marriott and attracted nearly 100 industry professionals from throughout the Northeast and beyond.

The board currently comprises:

President: Douglas Schwartz of Executive Limousine
1st Vice President: Robert Cunningham of Platinum Limousine
2nd Vice President: Matt Silver of Ultimate Class Limousine
Treasurer: Bob Pandolfo of Main Street Limousines
Secretary: Nancy Vargas of DH2 Chauffeured Transportation
1-5 Car Director: Bill Goerl of Clique Limousine
6-15 Car Director: Steve Verity of S&G Limousine
16+ Car Director: Andrea Majer of Deluxe Transportation Services
Sargent At Arms: Ray Caivano of 3 J’s Limousine
Director: Anisa Kahn of Deluxe Transportation Services
Advisor: Felix Reyes of K&G Limousine

Schwartz established the new Long Island ground transportation organization for the twofold purpose of providing a new forum for bringing together to the region’s operators, as well as providing a place where companies hailing from “downstate”—“New York City, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, West Chester, all around the Horn”—would feel welcome.

“After some back-and-forth discussion, we realized there’s a need for this kind of association and decided it was time to launch something fresh,” Schwartz said. “Even though we are the Long Island Transportation Association, I do believe we’ll eventually change our name to something like ‘Downstate New York’ because we wanted to open up our attendance to companies in places like New York City and West Chester and any other operators who want to belong.”

In addition to bringing together scores of regional operators and vendors—and thanking those who attended with a year of free membership—the meeting also featured Bill Faeth of Limo U as its keynote speaker, and gave the blossoming association’s board members a chance to outline the future they have in mind.

“We’re already working on our next meeting and lining up the speaker—and we’re going to have a little fun with it, too. We’re going to make our meetings kind of like how it is at the shows with mini-sessions, which will be targeted toward the downstate and New York City areas,” Schwartz said. “As an operator, I know I need this association for information and to share with people. A lot of things have been replaced by Facebook today, but we still need the warm touch.”

Schwartz is also keen on establishing a format for LITA meetings: an hour and a half of “a little networking, a program, then we’re out of there.”

LITA’s next membership meeting will be January 9.

Visit longislandta.com for more information.

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