In a move to further position the organization to meet new challenges of providing excellence in customer service and support, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) CEO, Phillip Washington, on Aug. 14 announced organizational changes to advance the agency’s regional mobility agenda.
Interim Deputy Chief Executive Officer Stephanie Wiggins has been hired to the same position in a permanent capacity. Wiggins has served as Metro’s executive director of vendor/contract management and has 21 years of transportation experience including regional programs director for the Riverside County Transportation Commission. Wiggins earned a BA from Whittier College and a MBA from the University of Southern California.
Richard F. Clark was appointed executive director Metro Program Management, which oversees engineering and construction. With 35 years of transportation experience, Clark has worked on large projets in Cologne, Germany, the Long Island Railroad in New York, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (The T), the Port Authority Trans-Hudson, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA), and served as assistant general manager at the Regional Transportation District (RTD) in Denver. Clark earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
James T. Gallagher was appointed chief operations officer and comes to Metro from the Transportation Corridor Agencies in Irvine, Calif. where he was chief toll operations officer. Gallagher has had a 35-year transportation career including assistant general manager, operations at the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) District, deputy general manager, operations at Washington Area Transit Authority (Metro) in Washington, D.C., and director of ridership development at the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (Metro).
Pauletta Tonilas was appointed chief communications officer. Tonilas is a former television news reporter and anchor and served as public information officer for the city of Englewood, Colo. Tonilas managed communications for the transportation expansion project, which entailed extensive public outreach to stakeholders and included the successful passage of the FastTracks transportation expansion sales tax measure in 2004. In all, Tonilas has 30 years’ experience as a public communicator.
Elba Higueros was named to the position of chief policy officer to provide support and manage communications between the chief executive officer, the board of directors and their staffs. Higueros joined Metro in 2003 and most recently managed operations and maintenance activities on the Express Lanes toll operations.
Alex Wiggins was hired to the newly-created position of executive director, security to oversee Metro’s $100 million contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and streamline efforts to keep the system safe. Wiggins is a veteran of the United States Army Military Police, the Seattle Police Department, the Seattle Department of Transportation where he served as chief of staff, the North County Transit District (NCTD) and deputy executive director of the Metra.
Chief Executive Officer Phillip A. Washington created the Office of Extraordinary Innovation (OEI) to champion new ideas and improve mobility in Los Angeles County. The charge of the OEI is three-fold: provide access to Metro decision makers for innovative people, organizations and industries; support Metro departments in piloting new and experimental programs and policies; and shepherd new ideas from entrepreneurs, established private sectors entities, academia and/or private citizens.
Metro also realigned the Asset Management Department into the newly created Risk/Safety & Asset Management Department to bring this aspect of the organization into industry best practices. The realignment emphasizes independent decision making regarding schedules to bring vehicles out of service for maintenance at predicted intervals.
