On Tuesday night, April 12, 2022, WTS-LA hosted our second outdoor, in-person event at the beautiful Kyoto Gardens rooftop to welcome Metrolink’s new CEO, Darren Kettle. We were thrilled to have Darren as the guest of honor and hear him speak about his vision for Metrolink, the importance of women in transportation, and his advocacy of WTS as an organization.

 For more than 32 years, Darren Kettle has advanced transportation, working for local and regional government agencies, including the City of Rialto, County of San Bernardino, Southern California Association of Governments, Ventura County Transportation Commission (VCTC), San Bernardino County Transportation Authority, and the Riverside County Transportation Commission. In each venue and assignment, he drove transportation improvements through in-depth knowledge, dynamic application, and judicious partnering and team building. He has amassed an outstanding record of achievement, collaboration, and innovation.  

Directly before joining Metrolink, he served as executive director for VCTC, where he worked with cities in Ventura County and government agencies to plan, fund, and manage a wide array of initiatives designed to enhance transportation. He also served as the director of freeway construction for San Bernardino and as the director of intergovernmental and legislative affairs for both San Bernardino and RCTC, where he managed a collaborative government affairs program for the two counties. In short, he has done quite a lot at the intersection of where government and transportation meet. 

With a comprehensive background like that, Darren is uniquely qualified to take Metrolink to the next level, and WTS-LA was lucky to have him at our event!

Darren was joined by Metrolink colleagues Paul Huber, Chief Strategy Manager; Sylvia Novoa, Public Affairs Manager; and LaTrice Smith, Senior Business Analyst. He spoke of the agency’s increasing ridership and plans for optimization. The big news is that Metrolink is the first passenger rail agency in the U.S. to switch to renewable fuel to power all of its trains. More on that here. Thank you to Darren and Metrolink for your support of WTS-LA!

Click here to see photos of the reception.