The board of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority on April 8 named Metrolink Chief Executive Stephanie Wiggins as the agency’s next CEO, effective next month.
Wiggins, who previously served as deputy chief executive at Metro, will become the first woman and the first Black woman, to head the county’s transportation authority.
She will succeed Phillip Washington, the agency’s first Black leader, who in February announced he would retire after six years at the helm.
“L.A. County has great mobility needs that we must develop with goals of achieving better health, opportunity and equity for all of the region’s residents, and I look forward to bringing transformative leadership and collaboration with the region’s transportation authorities to make this vision a reality," Wiggins said in a statement.
Wiggins will manage a budget of nearly $7 billion, oversee up to $20 billion in capital construction projects, and lead an agency with 11,000 employees that transports more than a half-million boarding passengers daily on a fleet of 2,200 buses and six rail lines.
“Metro is in the midst of a generational transformation that will mean more jobs for local workers, more growth for our economy, and more ways for Angelenos to move around our region — and nobody is better prepared to carry the torch of progress than Stephanie Wiggins,” Metro Board Chair and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in the announcement.
“Stephanie’s career makes her ideally suited to lead this agency at this moment. She’s experienced, determined, committed to equity, and steeped in L.A.’s transportation history, and she is the perfect candidate to carry Metro into its next chapter.”
Wiggins was named chief executive of the regional rail authority Metrolink in 2018, becoming its first female and Black leader. Metrolink is the nation’s third-largest passenger rail system, covering 538 route-miles in five Southern California counties. The agency has 282 full-time employees and a budget of $793 million.
Previously, Wiggins served in several roles at Metro prior to becoming deputy chief executive. Among the posts she held was executive director of vendor/contract management and project director of the congestion reduction/ExpressLanes program, where she implemented the first high-occupancy toll lanes on the 110 and 10 freeways.
“I am honored by the opportunity to return to L.A. Metro as its CEO and am grateful to Mayor Garcetti and the L.A. Metro Board for the faith they have placed in me for this important role," Wiggins said in a statement,
