San Mateo County Transit District General Manager/CEO Jim Hartnett has been selected as the winner of the 2021 Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) San Francisco Bay Area Chapter's Honorable Ray LaHood Award. LaHood served as the 16th United States Secretary of Transportation from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama.
This award is given in recognition of Hartnett’s exemplary work, efforts, and initiatives in facilitating professional opportunities for women and minorities. The award honors those who have made significant contributions to promoting diversity, inclusion, and multicultural awareness within their organization and the transportation industry.
“I am so honored and appreciative of this award from such an outstanding leadership group,” said Hartnett of receiving the LaHood award. “This is a recognition of our entire organization. I am very proud of our diverse, eclectic work force. We are driven to success by diversity at every level of our organization, and I could not be happier to represent them.”
Hartnett also was recognized in 2019 as one of the “Most Admired CEOs” in the San Francisco Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times. Under Hartnett’s leadership, the Transit District has been an ardent supporter of WTS by supporting a number of District employees as members of the WTS organization, including a number of key staff who are women and/or minorities at the organization. Since becoming CEO/GM in 2015, Hartnett’s leadership led to a number of transformative improvements and achievements including the following:
- Securing over $2 billion in local, state, regional and federal funds to prepare the Caltrain corridor for expanded service and the operation of new, high-performance electric trains.
- The creation of a Caltrain Business Plan that calls for implementation of a 2040 Service Vision that would increase service throughout the corridor and triple ridership, putting the equivalent of 5.5 lanes of traffic on Caltrain instead of our highways.
- The approval of San Mateo County’s Measure W in 2018, provides more than $2.7 billion over 30 years for enhanced local and regional transit services, bike and pedestrian improvements, and solutions that address traffic congestion on regional highways and local streets and roads.
- The approval of Caltrain’s Measure RR in 2020 is estimated to provide approximately $3.2 billion over 30 years to invest in the operation and expansion of faster, more frequent electrified service with added capacity necessary to accommodate expected increases in ridership demand in the decades to come.
To celebrate this achievement, Hartnett will be honored by the WTS San Francisco Bay Area Chapter at its annual event, which will be hosted virtually later this year.
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About the San Mateo County Transit District: The San Mateo County Transit District operates 70 SamTrans routes throughout San Mateo County. Funded in part by a half-cent sales tax, the San Mateo County Transit District also provides administrative support for Caltrain and the San Mateo County Transportation Authority. The San Mateo County Transit District has provided bus service to San Mateo County customers since 1976.
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