O’Connor joins Metrolink Board
Written by Kyra Senese, Managing Editor
The Metrolink Board of Directors has appointed Pam O’Connor, a Santa Monica city councilmember, as an alternate director.
O’Connor will represent the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) Board in her new role.
Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Board Chair Sheila Kuehl announced O’Connor’s appointment.
“I welcome Councilmember O’Connor on behalf of Metrolink and look forward to working with her,” said Metrolink Board Chair Andrew Kotyuk. “Pam has a long history of public service and she will be an asset to all our member agencies.”
She has also served as a member of the Santa Monica City Council since 1994, and has been mayor five times.
“I am honored by this appointment and am eager to take part in Metrolink’s rapidly expanding role in community cohesiveness, sustainability, mobility and livability,” O’Connor said. “The Board’s dedication to safety promotes those principles and ensures ever-growing ridership and the transformation of our region’s transportation paradigm.”
O’Connor served on the LACMTA Board for 13 years and acted as the board’s chair in 2007.
She is also chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the National League of Cities and serves on the committee’s board. She served as a regional councilmember of the Southern California Association of Governments for 20 years, as well, which officials note is the largest metropolitan planning organization in the U.S.
In addition to being recognized as the elected official of the year, O’Connor was also chosen as one of the 25 Most Influential Women in Transportation in Southern California at the 2010 Women’s Transportation Seminar, officials said.
O’Connor holds Masters’ degrees in both Planning and in Technology Management from Eastern Michigan University. She is also an alumna of Southern Illinois University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Communications.
