high speed rail webinars
Interactive Professional Webinar Series
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Toks Omishakin
Secretary, California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA)
Toks Omishakin was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in February 2022. He previously served as Director of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) since 2019, where he managed a $17 billion budget and nearly 22,000 employees who oversee 50,000 lane miles of highways, 20,000 bridges, 400 public-use airports, three of Amtrak’s busiest intercity rail services and transit support to more than 200 local and regional transit agencies.
Omishakin’s transportation vision for California features a safe, equitable, sustainable, and multimodal transportation system that builds on strong local partnerships. As Caltrans Director, he and the leadership team established the 5 Priorities for the Department in 2019 and, in 2020, finalized a new Strategic Plan with a focus on Caltrans’ foundational principles of Equity, Climate Action and Safety.
Having been immersed in the transportation industry for almost two decades, Secretary Omishakin came to CalSTA and Caltrans following eight years with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), where he successfully established environmental, multimodal and planning policies. As Deputy Commissioner for Environment and Planning, he was responsible for an administrative and project budget of more than $300 million annually. He also led the activities of the divisions of Environmental Services, Long-Range Planning, Multimodal Transportation Resources, and the Freight and Logistics Division.
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brian kelly
CEO, California High Speed Rail Authority
Brian P. Kelly was selected in January, 2018 as the CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. He comes to the Authority with a wealth of experience in transportation. Kelly served as the first secretary of the new California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), an agency created in 2013, which focused solely on transportation. At CalSTA, Kelly oversaw eight departments, boards and commissions 38,000 employees and a budget of $18.1 billion.
At CalSTA, he was responsible for a variety of complex transportation issues which directly impacted almost every Californian, the state’s economy, public safety, highway construction and maintenance, and public transit. During his tenure, his many accomplishments included passing Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), the single largest investment in California’s transportation infrastructure, moving forward the nation’s first state rulemaking to allow the test and deployment of autonomous vehicles, and breaking ground on the first high-speed rail system in the nation in California’s Central Valley.
Prior to that, Kelly spent almost two decades at the center of major transportation policy decisions in California by serving four successive Senate President pro Tempores. He served as executive staff director for Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg, executive principal consultant for Senate President pro Tempore Don Perata, principal consultant for Senate President pro Tempore John Burton, and for Senate President pro Tempore Bill Lockyer.
