VMC CONSULTANTS

Dr. Ganim balances fifty years of private, public and educational sector experience with extensive academic credentials – BS Industrial Engineering; MS Operations Research; and a Ph.D. in Organizational Communications.

His consulting engagements span more than 300 public jurisdictions and 200 school districts, including twenty New York State counties. Dr. Ganim has performed or supervised more than 100 Job

Classification and Salary Studies (compensation studies) for New York State local governments and five such studies in Florida when acting as the Consultant for Florida’s Gold Coast League of cities (the four counties—Broward, Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach, and all the municipalities and school districts in these counties). In addition, Dr. Ganim acted as the professional HR and Labor Negotiator for over 125 municipalities and school districts in New York State and State of Florida.

As CEO of Value Management Consultants, Inc., Dr. Ganim is focusing on the improvement of transportation for children with special needs – pre-school and school aged, and other sensitive
populations.

Mr. Ganim earned his baccalaureate in Business and Engineering from Cornell University in 1986. From then until February of 1989 he was employed by NYNEX (New York Telephone) as a data network development specialist. At NYNEX he assisted in the development of NYSERNET, a high-speed data network throughout New York State.

Since joining the VMC Group in 1989, Mr. Ganim has been assigned to the project management and implementation of specialized transportation products and to the institution of several key transportation projects. In this capacity he has had significant experience in supervisory management, and regularly works with transporters, school officials, program participants and jurisdictional supervisory staff. Mr. Ganim has been trained in the use and maintenance of several transportation software packages, and the support of the VMC clients who employ these products. In connection with the foregoing, he has made extensive use of his experience with Novell, UNIX, (AIX), and LANtastic.

During a three-year period from 2004 through early 2007 Mr. Ganim served as Transportation supervisor, specializing in the transportation of children with disabilities, for the Elizabeth Township School District (New Jersey). In that position, Mr. Ganim used all of the skills he developed at the VMC Group in connection with the operation and maintenance of transportation software and student databases, supervision of drivers and monitors, and compliance with legal requirements.

Mr. Ganim brings a rare combination of theoretical and practical experience to a major transportation project, since a part of his duties have required that he work closely with individual clients, frequently visiting their respective sites to assess their data needs and concerns, and to provide localized and customized training in transportation oversight and in the use of the various software products utilized by VMC.

Eddie is deeply experienced in coordinating transportation—including his proficient knowledge of all applicable laws, rules, and regulations regarding school bus and workplace safety, Managing VMC’s management of the transportation of preschool and Early Intervention and children with Special needs in Eastern New York Region.

Mr. Morales qualifications and extended yellow school bus transportation knowledge serve as his potential to serve Project Manager for various of our customers.  As a result, he was appointed VMC’s Eastern Regional Manager, and Assistant to the Vice – President and was given responsibility for the supervision and point of contact in six New York State counties.

Mr. Morales demonstrated the ability to communicate, work with, and coordinate the efforts of, the various parties with an interest in preschool transportation programs (i.e. county personnel, transporter staff, program staff, and parents). In fact, VMC’s operational communications abilities were enhanced because of Mr. Morales fluency in Spanish and English.

He began his career as an Emergency Medical Technician, and Field Training officer in 1995 NYC EMS. In this capacity, among other duties, he was responsible for the evaluation of drivers, and the timely performance of their trips. Subsequently, he served as the medical practice transportation coordinator for Beth Abraham Health Services in the Bronx. In this position he worked with in-house and independent transporters in coordinating transportation for both inside and outside medical appointments and patient consultations. He was the liaison for the receipt and follow-up of all complaints and incidents.

Before joining VMC in 2008, Mr. Morales was the Operations Road Supervisor and a Dispatcher for Liberty Lines Transit for the city of Yonkers. At VMC he helped to establish preschool transportation policies and procedures for VMC’s operational staff and for the transporters. In 2012 he and his staff were instrumental in analyzing changes in the Medicaid reimbursement, and in designing the Driver Attendance Logs that the State has said meet the Medicaid requirements. The attendance logs are now in use in eight New York State counties. The rare combination of experience in public and medical transportation—with a current emphasis on the transportation of preschool children with disabilities—and a knowledge and experience in the needs of recipients of various degrees of medical transportation services (van, wheelchair, ambulette, ambulance, etc.), and his demonstrated problem-solving abilities make Mr. Morales a logical candidate to resolve transportation service and safety issues, and to resolve logistical problems.

In 2013, Mr. Morales joined The Trans Group Safety Team at Chestnut Ridge Transportation as a Safety Supervisor.  Where he expanded his knowledge in the Yellow School Bus Industry and gained more experience as a 19-A Certified Examiner for the department of motor vehicles in the state of New York.  Further Mr. Morales became certified by the New York state education department as a School Bus Driver Instructor (SBDI).

In November of 2016 Mr. Morales joined the great team of professionals at First Student, Pine Bush location 11755 as a Location Safety Manager to continue his career growth in the Yellow School Bus Industry. In 2017 Mr. Morales secured a Job as a School Bus Dispatcher with Monroe-Woodbury CSD one of the largest Districts in Central New York only 45 miles north of New York City. Mr. Morales looks forward to continuing his career and expanding his growth and knowledge of the Yellow school bus industry. In 2019 Mr. Morales advanced by working with the largest School district in the Eastern Region Wappingers Falls Central School District as a Head Bus Driver Supervisor transporting over 14,000 students.

Mr. Morales future goals include the continuing commitment of providing safety to the children in our community. His goal is to secure continues supervision responsibilities in an office setting where he can utilize his work ethics and past supervisory knowledge to assist and conduct a work environment where everyone’s goal is the wellbeing of the children and our staff.

Ms. Covert is a transportation professional, with thirty years of experience in the field.

She began her career with Blue Bird Coach Lines where she arranged charter bus trips and group tours. Her work included planning and providing for all facets of these trips, including scheduling and routing the motor coaches for daily and overnight excursions, arranging for hotels and meals, and scheduling visits to special attractions.

As VMC’s local Project Manager for its Coordinated Inter-Department and Inter-Agency Transportation Management in Cattaraugus County, and Transportation Management in Niagara County Ms. Cover applies all of her multifaceted background and expertise. As coordinator of VMC’s efforts in Cattaraugus, she is also responsible for the timely verification of transporter invoices.
She also supervises VMC’s busy local call center. In this role, she is the designated Point of Contact for the county’s department and agency staff members, a diverse group of Contract Transporters (including passenger van and bus service, wheelchair van service and ambulette service),

In addition to her regular duties, Ms. Covert previously worked closely with the City of Olean, county management, local interest groups, and VMC’s Value Management Consulting professionals to establish a public bus service. For this project she had been intimately involved in the survey of potential ridership that established the need for this service, formulation of bid specifications, inducing transporters to bid for the project, public relations, structuring the bus route and schedule, and ensuring the quality of the services.

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