Leila Procopio-Makuh, C-SAPA
Leila Procopio-Makuh, President of LPM Consulting Inc.,
has the unique combination of knowledge, hands-on
experience, and skills recognized nationwide in the field of
substance abuse program management. Prior to embarking on
her own training and consulting business, Ms. Procopio-Makuh
served as a Human Resources Manager and Drug & Alcohol
Program Manager for one of the largest public transit
agencies in the country, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (LACMTA). She has trained over
12,000 employees, supervisors, program administrators,
contractors, and service agents nationwide. Since 2001, Ms.
Procopio-Makuh has served as the Lead Instructor for the
U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Transportation
Safety Institute (TSI) on the subject of “Substance Abuse
Management and Program Compliance” and “Reasonable
Suspicion Determination” for transit supervisors.
She also is a former member of the Federal Transit
Administration (FTA) drug and alcohol audit team and has
conducted numerous on-site audits of FTA grantees,
sub-grantees, and covered contractors throughout the
country, to determine their compliance with the federal drug
and alcohol testing regulations. She has distinguished
herself from her peers by successfully completing and
earning the national designation of “Certified Substance
Abuse Program Administrator” (C-SAPA).
Ms. Procopio-Makuh is a veteran in the field of workplace
substance abuse testing. Long before the FTA issued its
final rules on the “Prevention of Prohibited Drug Use and
Alcohol Abuse in Transit Operations,” she had several years
of management responsibility for the comprehensive drug and
alcohol testing program at LACMTA and its predecessor
agency. Ms. Procopio-Makuh actively participated in the
federal rulemaking process providing comments to the FTA
during the proposed rulemaking stage, and also participated
in the scientific and technical discussions that helped set
the framework for the DOT-mandated drug and alcohol testing
procedures (49 CFR Part 40).
To maintain up-to-date knowledge and competence in the
field, Ms. Procopio-Makuh continues to attend numerous
workshops and seminars on the subject of drug and alcohol
testing. She was a member of the Drug & Alcohol Testing
Industry Association (DATIA) Legislative and Regulatory
Committee and a former Commissioner for the Substance Abuse
Program Administrators Certification Commission (SAPACC).
She also has made presentations on this subject at APTA
Conferences and at the California Administrative Law Judges
Association Forum on “Drugs in the Workplace.” She was one
of four public transit industry representatives nationwide
who participated in the Transportation Research Board’s
project on “Fitness for Duty Testing in the Transit
Industry.” In addition, she has helped set up drug and
alcohol testing programs for several local public and
private companies, and has been called to testify as a
subject matter expert on drug- and alcohol-related
arbitration or legal proceedings.
Ms. Procopio-Makuh holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from
the College of the Immaculate Conception, and a Master’s
degree in Communications from Columbia College. She lives in
Northridge, California with her husband and two children.
