The new interim CEO for San Joaquin County’s bus system is a former Stockton Unified School District transit director who resigned amid controversy.

The San Joaquin Regional Transit District’s board of directors voted to hire a man they identified as Bearnard Veasley as temporary CEO during a meeting in downtown Stockton Friday.

Directors Derek Graves Jr. and Geneva Moorad voted in favor of the appointment, and Director Aaron Edwards abstained.

The appointment represents the latest shake-up on the leadership team since turmoil broke out at RTD in February. Throughout that month, the board ousted its last permanent CEO and hired a temporary one who resigned shortly thereafter. The board saw two abrupt resignations as well. 

RTD serves 2.6 million people yearly across San Joaquin County.

On Friday, RTD officials gave conflicting information about the name of their latest interim leader — and there was also confusion about the name of a lawyer the board appointed at that same meeting.

After the morning vote, Director Edwards and RTD Human Resources Director Noel Mink told Stocktonia the interim CEO’s name was “Bernard” Veasley. An initial RTD press release about Veasley’s appointment bore that same name. 

On Friday afternoon, RTD circulated an updated release identifying the new interim chief as “Bearnard” Veasley. Chief Safety Officer Curtis Moses confirmed that name directly with Veasley, he told Stocktonia.

Yet a third name spelling appears in prior news coverage apparently referencing Veasley.

Between 2022 and 2023, The Stockton Record published at least three stories mentioning a former Stockton Unified transportation director named “Benard” Veasley. According to RTD’s release Friday, Veasley formerly led Stockton Unified’s bus system.

Veasley didn’t appear at Friday’s meeting. Stocktonia attempted to contact him by calling numerous publicly-available phone numbers under his name; requesting contact information from RTD; and leaving messages with a lawyer who formerly represented him. 

In addition to running Stockton Unified’s buses, Veasley also previously “led operations in Simi Valley Unified and McKenzie County School District #1, managing fleet performance, compliance, budgeting, and service delivery across large geographic areas,” an RTD press release stated.

“Colleagues and district leaders have consistently recognized (Veasley’s) ability to stabilize operations, strengthen teams, and deliver practical, results-driven improvements,” an RTD press release stated.

In 2022, Stockton Unified Director of Transportation Benard Veasley was replaced as director amid claims by some employees that he’d bullied and harassed them, The Record reported. 

However, other employees supported Veasley, saying he’d “been a major support for (transit) drivers,” according to The Record. “Benard” Veasley also sued the district over severance pay in 2024, court records show.

A Stockton Unified spokesperson didn’t immediately answer a question seeking to clarify Veasley’s first name. 

A new interim CEO 

RTD will pay Veasley $28,000 monthly plus a one-time $10,000 moving stipend under his six-month contract with RTD, Mink announced Friday.

Moorad declined to explain her vote in favor of appointing Veasley, and Graves didn’t immediately respond to emailed questions. 

Edwards abstained from voting on Veasley’s appointment because he didn’t have a copy of Veasley’s resume, the board member told Stocktonia after the decision. 

“I’m not going to make a vote if I haven’t received his qualifications, if I haven’t had the time to sit down and review it,” Edwards said. “That’s not wise of me to do that at this moment.”

Edwards didn’t have the resume because it wasn’t sent to the right email address, he told Stocktonia. But Edwards believes the other boardmembers are familiar with Veasley’s resume, he added.

Leadership merry-go-round 

The interim CEO’s hiring marks a fresh round of musical chairs among the leadership of San Joaquin County’s transit system.

Turnover among the system’s leadership started in early February when the board voted to place former CEO Alex Clifford on leave, ultimately firing him later that month in a 4-1 vote. Ex-operations chief Ciro Aguirre resigned around the same time.

That same month, the board hired Kimberly Turner as interim CEO. But as of April 9, she had resigned.

The board itself has also faced resignations: two seats on the previously five-member panel have been empty since former Directors Gary Giovanetti and Les Fong resigned in February.

In addition to appointing Veasley on Friday, RTD’s board also voted 3-0 to hire Jerome A. Clay as counsel.

As with Veasley, there was also some confusion about Clay’s first name: when announcing his hiring during the board meeting, Mink identified the lawyer as “Jerome” A. Clay. 

But following the meeting, when asked to confirm the spelling of Clay’s first name, Mink identified him as “George.”

San Joaquin County Superior Court records show that a lawyer named Jerome A. Clay represented Benard Veasley in a 2024 lawsuit against Stockton Unified, where Veasley alleged the district didn’t give him severance pay.

Veasley also stated in the lawsuit that he’d experienced “discrimination and harassment” at Stockton Unified, according to the complaint. 

In June, lawyers for both sides agreed to drop the case, court records show. The records don’t spell out why.