Mike Mason, 63, is a former FBI boss who switched from a career in busting criminals to a career of bussing children to school.
Mason spent more than 20 years working at the FBI and climbing the ladder to executive assistant director, one of the most powerful positions at this agency.
An Unusual Change in Career: From FBI Boss to School Bus Driver
He made the career switch to a bus driver in Virginia and now transports kids with autism to their school and from school to their homes.
During his time at the FBI, Mason was responsible for the 6500 workers in Washington DC, 56 FBI field officers in the US, and 59 FBI offices overseas, and the fleet of the bureau consisting of 100 aircraft.
Mason explains that probably 50 percent of the operational resources at the FBI fell under him. He’s one of the four most senior African Americans in FBI history and he couldn’t be prouder.
He left the agency in 2007 and he worked for more than a decade with Verizon before his retirement in 2020. But, this FBI bigwig quickly found himself at a loose end and decided to try out another job.
He said he was prepared to do something that would make his life more regular. As of April 2021, he started working with the Chesterfield County Public Schools as their bus driver after he saw a news story about the shortage of people who would apply for this job.
This former FBI agent spent several weeks finishing his driver training course before he became qualified for the job.
Happy in His New Role: It’s Important too
Today, Mason drives nine autistic students between the ages of 10 and 18 to their local school every morning and also picks them up and drives them home when the lessons finish.
He said that he’s relishing his new role and he’s smiling every day when he starts the bus. He says he’s done plenty of vital things, but his job now is also important.
Mason is a dad of two sons and earns over $20 per hour as a driver. He donates most of this money to charity.
The Chesterfield County Public Schools are amazed that a former FBI agent works with them. The superintendent Mery Doherty says that bus drivers have a big effect on the success of the students as the first and last representatives that their students see daily.
Mason approaches this job as all of his other jobs: with the utmost sense of duty. He says that there are no unimportant jobs and there’s nothing more important than the education system, he believes.
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