TriMet Appoints Bonnie Todd COO
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
Bonnie Todd, incoming COO, TriMet
Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) has named Bonnie Todd COO; she is the first woman to hold the agency’s top operating job.
Todd will join the TriMet executive team on Dec. 30, 2021, filling the COO role held by Sam Desue Jr., before he was named General Manager in June.
A 30-plus-year transportation veteran, Todd will lead TriMet’s Transportation, Maintenance, and Safety and Security divisions. She will also direct operational training and development, provide leadership to operations planning and development, and oversee the deployment of capital projects and the TriMet business plan.
Todd served previously as COO of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, where she oversaw operations and maintenance of fixed-route bus, Bus Rapid Transit, automated people mover, ferry, paratransit and alternative on-demand services for the 1,000 square-mile service area of Jacksonville and northeast Florida. She also spent 12 years as Executive Director of Operations at Sound Transit, directing the operation and maintenance of the light rail, commuter rail, commuter bus and streetcar system covering the Seattle-Tacoma, Wash., metropolitan area. Todd began her transit career at Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and also held the positions of Chief of Safety and Security at Miami-Dade Transit and Director of Rail Safety Audits Programs for the American Public Transportation Association. She is a United States Marine Corps veteran who served as an avionics technician, with tours of duty in Okinawa, Japan and Norfolk, Va.
“I’m excited to serve TriMet riders and support critical environmental efforts, planned and under way, to better the greater Portland community,” Todd said. “I look forward to joining and working with the executive team at TriMet to identify ways to improve performance, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve this region under the excellent leadership of General Manager Sam Desue.”
In other developments, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recently awarded a $99.9 million construction grant to the TriMet for its 7.8-mile MAX Red Line extension project in the Portland metro area.
