(Operation Lifesaver issued the following news release on December 13.)
WASHINGTON — Helen M. Sramek, current Director of Federal Relations for the American Automobile Association (AAA), will become President of Operation Lifesaver Inc. (OLI), a national nonprofit rail safety organization, on January 8, 2007, OLI Board Chair Otto Sonefeld announced today.
“We are very pleased to have attracted someone with Helen’s legislative and management experience,” Sonefeld said, citing her nine years’ experience heading federal legislative and regulatory advocacy for AAA and a decade as Chief of Staff for former Rep. Doug Bereuter (R-NE). “We look forward to starting 2007 under her leadership.”
Sramek, a Nebraska native, also brings executive branch experience to her new position. From 1990-1993 she served as Executive Assistant to the Administrator of the Agency for International Development (1990-1993) supporting initiatives with the private voluntary community that delivers foreign assistance programs, international training activities, and what was then the developing program of assistance to Eastern and Central Europe.
Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Sramek managed a range of legislative issues for several Nebraska congressional members before joining Bereuter’s staff. She was instrumental in helping him deliver federal funding for a major highway-rail crossing in the state’s capital city of Lincoln.
Gerri L. Hall, Operation Lifesaver’s President since fall 1995, announced her plans earlier in the year to leave the organization at the end of 2006. “After spending more than a decade at the helm of Operation Lifesaver, personally I want an opportunity to branch out into new areas.
“This provides an excellent opportunity for someone with Helen’s qualifications to step in,” Hall said. “She will join our state coordinators and safety partners to find new ways to help motorists and pedestrians make safe decisions around tracks and trains.”
Operation Lifesaver’s 3,000 certified presenters throughout the U.S. and Canada are trained to give free safety talks to community groups, schools, school bus drivers, truck drivers and community organizations to raise awareness of the need for caution around railroad tracks and trains. More information can be found at http://www.oli.org/ or call the national office at 1-800-537-6224.