PHILADELPHIA– SEPTA General Manager Faye Moore today announced the appointment of two new Assistant General Managers. Susan Van Buren was named to the position of Assistant General Manager/Chief Human Resource Officer. Juan Torres was named Assistant General Manager for Public and Government Affairs.
Ms. Van Buren has 22 years of professional experience in the field of Human Resources, workforce and organizational alignment, and employee/labor relations.
Prior to joining SEPTA, she served as the Vice President of Human Resources for Creditek, LLC, a financial services organization and Director of Human Resources at Lucent Technologies, in New Jersey. Ms. Van Buren holds a BS in Education from The College of New Jersey. She is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management and the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR).
Ms. Van Buren was the top ranked candidate after a national search that presented 71 candidates for the position.
A career public transportation professional, Mr. Torres has 20 years of hands-on operations and management experience.
A graduate of Temple University with a B.A. in majors in Political Science and Urban Planning, Mr. Torres’ first position at SEPTA was as a bus operator for the Suburban Transit Division. Remaining in Operations for 15 years, he rose through the ranks to become the Assistant General Manager for Subway- Elevated Operations before joining the Human Resource Division as Sr. Director for Business Process Redesign and Organizational Development. Until recently, Mr. Torres served in a dual acting capacity as both Assistant General Manager of Public and Government Affairs and Human Resource Officer. He is one of the founding members of the local chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO), serving for many years as a member of their National Board. Mr. Torres also serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Nueva Esperanza, Inc., a Philadelphia area Community Development Corporation and is Second Vice-Chairperson on the Board of Nationalities Service Center (NSC).