The HistoryMakers

Mass transit and transportation expert Betty Hager Francis was born and raised in Washington, D.C. Her father, William H. Hager, was a federal government worker and part-time carpenter, and her mother, Helen Brown Hager, was a homemaker and owner of a catering business. Francis was born in 1946 to a devout Catholic home and attended Park View School through the third grade, and then Catholic grade and high schools. She has one sister, Helene Beryl Hager, and a brother, William Barklie Hager. Her childhood best friend and neighbor, Peggy Amos, is the niece of former Massachusetts U.S. Senator, Edward Brooke, III. In 1963, Francis earned her high school diploma from Sacred Heart Academy where she was head of the Student Council.

Francis was awarded a four-year academic scholarship to Howard University where she earned a B.A. degree in political science in 1967. To help support herself, she worked in the Capitol Hill office of Indiana Senator Birch Bayh. Francis took a year off from college in 1966, to work on Ed Brooke's U.S. Senate campaign. Upon graduating from Howard, she went back to Boston in 1968, where she worked at Harvard University's Astrological Observatory. In 1971, Francis worked at the Harvard University Press. It was here that her boss persuaded her to attend law school, offering to give her Fridays off to study. From 1976 to 1980, she attended Suffolk University Law School at night and earned her law degree.

From 1980 to 1981, Francis worked as an attorney for Greater Boston Legal Services where she handled family and probate matters. Francis then went on to work for the Boston Housing Authority as an attorney where she worked on landlord-tenant disputes, civil rights issues and labor and personnel cases. In 1981, Francis was appointed Deputy Chief Counsel for the Massachusetts Department of Public Works.

In 1984, Francis was appointed Associate Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works by then Governor Michael Dukakis. She was responsible for the maintenance and operation of the roads and bridges throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and worked on a variety of other transportation issues, including the multi-billion dollar project to build the Central Artery/Third Harbor Tunnel (also known as "The Big Dig"). She also served as Chief Administrative Law Judge in that agency.

In 1991, Francis was appointed Director of Public Works in Washington, D.C. by former Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelley. She was the first female to hold the position of Director of Public Works of the Nation's Capital, and was the first "big city" public works director. She was responsible for 5,000 employees and an $800 million budget. As Public Works Director, she was responsible for the design, construction, and maintenance of roads, bridges, and public buildings; public transit services; collection, recycling and disposal of solid waste; water delivery and wastewater treatment for 2 million customers; management of the District's fleet of equipment; vehicle registration, driver licensing and parking management. She received particular recognition for improvements to vehicle registration and parking management; for the initiation of curbside recycling, and city-wide scheduled mechanical street sweeping; and for the successful reengineering and delivery of snow removal services within the District. During the time that she served as Director of Public Works, Francis also served as the first President of the Northeast Association of State Transportation Officials. She served in that post until 1994.

In 1995, Francis was named Director of Prince George's County, Maryland's Department of Public Works and Transportation by then County Executive Wayne K. Curry. She was the first African American and the first female to hold that position in the County's history. For the nine years of her tenure as Director of the Prince George's County, Maryland Department of Public Works and Transportation, Francis' responsibilities included oversight and management of the transportation system of Prince George's County's: 1,750 miles of roads and bridges, as well as its public transit services. She led a dramatic increase in capital investment in the County's transportation infrastructure, including enhancements in its safety, durability and visual quality; the development of its regional and community-based transit services; as well as significant improvements in its land development and emergency response planning and operations. She served in this post until 2004.

Francis resides in Mitchellville, Maryland. She has three adult children and two grandchildren.

Francis was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on May 18, 2004.