Stephanie Wiggins
Award
Outstanding Infrastructure Advocate of the Year
Description
STEPHANIE WIGGINS
Chief Executive Officer
Stephanie Wiggins is the CEO of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), the lead transportation planning, programming, financing, and construction agency for the 10 million residents of LA County and the second busiest transit agency in the United States. As CEO of Metro, Wiggins leads a public agency with 12,000 employees and an annual budget of $9 billion. Wiggins also leads the nation’s largest transportation capital improvement program, with $26 billion worth of projects in active planning or construction. A lifelong trailblazer and champion of equity and inclusion, Ms. Wiggins is the first woman – and first African American woman – to lead Metro.
Over her three-decade career in transportation, Wiggins has led numerous initiatives that have driven innovation in the transportation industry and centered equity in the delivery of transit and transportation services. As CEO of Metro, Wiggins has led massive investments to improve the transit customer experience, including the creation of the nation’s largest transit ambassador program, and numerous other improvements related to safety, cleanliness, and reliability. She has also overseen the delivery of several transit megaprojects, including the $2.3 billion K Line in south LA and the $1.9 billion Regional Connector in downtown LA. She has also ensured Metro’s transportation investments are as equitable as possible through the implementation of Equitable Zero-Based Budgeting. Ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Wiggins is also leading the delivery of dozens of projects that will leave a legacy of permanent transit improvements for LA County’s residents.
Before joining Metro as CEO in June 2021, Wiggins served as the CEO of Metrolink, the nation’s third largest passenger rail system with 538 route-miles throughout Southern California where she grew ridership to historic levels pre-pandemic. Prior to Metrolink, Wiggins was Deputy CEO of Metro, where she assisted the CEO in providing leadership, formulating, and achieving strategic public transportation objectives, including the passage of Measure M, a half-cent sales tax approved by 71 percent of voters in LA County. Earlier in her career, Wiggins led the creation of LA County’s first high occupancy toll lanes, known as ExpressLanes and greatly expanded Metro’s utilization of local, small, and historically underutilized businesses through new inclusive procurement strategies.
Wiggins is a graduate of Whittier College and holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the 2024 Bond Buyer Freda Johnson Award of Trailblazing Woman in Public Finance. She is the founding president of the Inland Empire Chapter of Women’s Transportation Seminar, a Board Member of the Los Angeles Chapter of Friends of the Children, the Wiley Center for Speech and Language Development, the Southern California Leadership Council, and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
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