METRO Chief Caught Lying on her Resume

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/topstory2/730757

Oct. 27, 2000, 11:25PM

Metro chief's resume contains discrepancies
By MARY FLOOD -- Copyright 2000 2000, Houston Chronicle

Metropolitan Transit Authority President Shirley DeLibero does not hold the two associate degrees listed on her résumé and touted in news reports about her over the last decade.

DeLibero said Friday she never intended to deceive people about her education. Metro officials investigated the discrepancies this week and Metro board Chairman Robert Miller said she still has his full support. DeLibero said she should have clarified her résumé long ago to say she had only taken one or two classes at each school where she lists an associate degree.

Under the "Education" heading on DeLibero's résumé it states: "Wentworth Technical Institute; Associates Degree, Engineering; 1959. American Institute of Management; Associates Degree, Business Administration, 1957." Women were not admitted to the nearly 100-year-old Wentworth school until the 1970s. DeLibero said she meant that line to indicate she took one or two courses at a smaller school that was later purchased by the institute.

Regarding the American Institute of Management, DeLibero said she went to one or two classes at that school, which she said was in Boston. There is no school with that name in Boston now and it was not listed in the Boston city directories for 1956, 1957 or 1958, according to a researcher at the Boston Public Library contacted Friday.

Profiles of DeLibero featured in media in Houston, Dallas, New York and New Jersey have mentioned that she had at least one degree. Several news accounts noted that she worked full time and raised her two sons while obtaining the degrees.

Metro hired Spencer Stuart, an executive search firm, to look into DeLibero in October 1998 before the transit authority hired her. Its report said: "Shirley does not have a bachelor's-level degree, but has developed comparable or greater knowledge in public transit, government relations, and management. Education credentials should not be a relevant factor at this point in her career." Louis Rieger, a headhunter then with Spencer Stuart, said they never verified the two associate degrees listed in their report.

DeLibero signed a $210,000-a-year contract with Metro that ends in December 2003. She noted Friday that on being hired she never negligently signed anything that stated she had the two degrees. "I never thought with my reputation I needed to ever embellish," she said. But she said Friday she will remove the education portion from her résumé.

Defending DeLibero, Miller issued a statement to the Chronicle on Friday that said: "Her experience and accomplishments in her 25 years in the transit industry certainly overshadow whatever formal education she might or might not have had more than 40 years ago." DeLibero has a reputation of accomplishment at transit authorities in New Jersey, Dallas and Washington, D.C. Houston's Metro sought her out, hiring her in January 1999.

"I don't think anybody cared whether I had a degree or not," DeLibero said Friday. She said communities like Houston have come after her "based on my reputation. It was based on my years in the transit business."

But she also expressed regret for not correcting the résumé and misconception. "Maybe it was an error in judgment. Maybe I should have changed it," she said.

One of her major objectives in Houston is to get light rail built. Metro crossed a major hurdle this week when the board approved financing for it, overcoming the obstacle set up by U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, who blocked any federal funding for the project.

She has also been known for initiating a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to employee drinking on the job. There have been 336 employees fired since DeLibero was hired. Thirty-nine have been discharged for alcohol or drug infractions and nine for having criminal records, Metro reports.

DeLibero and an aide are currently under investigation for damage done earlier this year to DeLibero's Metro-issued luxury sedan. Miller said that investigation is not yet finished.

Two employees of Metro at the time have said the aide, Gilda Ramirez, admitted to them she had had an accident with the car. But both DeLibero and the aide told the Chronicle they do not know how the car got damaged. Metro policy requires all accidents be reported and that employees involved in some accidents be tested for drugs and alcohol.

At the Metro board meeting this week several union speakers complained of the duplicity involved in allowing executives at Metro to be held to more lax standards than laborers.

Sandra Burleson, president of the Transport Workers Union of America Local 260, said DeLibero's résumé representations are a concern to her because some of her members were fired for lying about their criminal history on their job applications. "Some weren't fired for the criminal offense, they were fired for lying on their applications," Burleson noted.

"(DeLibero) has preached about how everyone should be treated the same. She said she hates a thief and a liar," Burleson said. "My main thing is I want to be sure the people I represent are getting a fair shake."

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