Ohio state director and industry veteran Pete Japikse accepts the 2010 Administrator of the Year award from SBF Publisher Frank Di Giacomo.

PORTLAND, Ore. – In his more than 30 years in the industry, Pete Japikse has worked in a variety of aspects of pupil transportation, holding positions at school district and contractor operations as well as at the state level.

For the past 10 years, he has served as Ohio's state pupil transportation director, a role in which he is a driving force for improving school bus safety and service standards in the state. For his contributions to the industry at the local, state and national levels, Japikse was named SCHOOL BUS FLEET's 37th Administrator of the Year.

SBF Publisher Frank Di Giacomo presented the honor at the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT) awards banquet in Portland on Sunday night.

Japikse manages Ohio's pupil transportation rules and regulations, making sure they are up to industry standards. He oversees the mandatory training program for the state's school bus drivers, and he provides workshops for manager development as well.

Japikse works closely with districts to help them increase efficiency, providing them with data to benchmark their performance. His office is at the state Department of Education, but he spends at least half of his time out in the field.

On the national level, Japikse has served as president of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, and he was instrumental in forming the American School Bus Council. A few months ago, he was named chair of the steering committee for the 2015 National Congress on School Transportation.

Thomas Mather, Transportation Supervisor for Salem City Schools, was honored at the October 18, 2010 School Board meeting where he learned he has been named the Ohio Association of School Business Officials Transportation Supervisor of the Year: (front from left) Mille and Earl Mather (his parents); Thomas Mather and his wife, Carmel, and board President Steve Bailey; (back) Superintendent Tom Bratten and board members Brad Myers, Jeff Cushman, Nick Bush and Andrew Null.

The award was a surprise and all the busing staff appeared in the library as Superintendent Tom Bratten advised Mather he has been called to the meeting under the "pretense of a ruse."

He was asked to bring a school bus for board members to inspect.

A U.S. Army veteran, Mather was described as a "selfless" person whose only concern was safety and service.

"To say he is valuable, would be a great understatement," Bratten said, adding he goes above and beyond.

Mather attributed the award to his staff.

He will receive the award at a capitol conference in Columbus on Nov. 9. It will include a scholarship in his name that he will award it to a student of his choice.