Maria Sullivan
Most Valuable Commuter November 2010
Employer: Avista Corporation
Since 1974, Maria Sullivan, Material Planner for Avista Corporation, has been using commute alternatives. She started carpooling because she didn’t want to drive in downtown L.A. when living in California. With the environment meaning a lot to her and wanting to save money, Maria has continually used commute alternatives. Being multi-modal, Maria carpools to Post Falls with her husband then joins the vanpool to go to work at Avista.
As a vanpool ambassador for Avista, Maria encourages employees to give vanpooling a try and offers courtesy vanpool rides to see if they like it. She also shares with employees how much they can save by riding in a vanpool. Maria’s words of wisdom to employees are “Where else can a person read, take a nap, visit with others and not give a single thought to driving? Try it, you’ll love it!â€
Currently, Maria is advocating getting a vanpool started from the Coeur d’Alene area. She would like to have two vanpools running so that employees can have flex van rides for when they have to work late or arrive early. Maria also walks her talk by using the City Link bus in Coeur d’Alene to run errands and go to the lake in the summertime. ETC, Catherine Bowden, says “A huge supporter of CTR, Maria has great ideas for bringing improvements to vanpooling at Avista. Her enthusiasm for vanpooling and using commute alternatives is very much appreciated at Avista!†Way to Go Maria!