Mehdi Morshed, Executive Director

Mehdi Morshed is one of California's leading transportation policy experts and innovators, with over 40 years of experience in the planning, engineering and construction of transportation projects and in the development and enactment of transportation policies and laws for the State of California.

He served as a member of the California high-speed rail commission from 1994 to 1996 and was the first person to be appointed to the board of the newly created California High speed rail Authority in 1997. He was appointed by the board as the first Executive Director of the Authority in 1998 and has served in that capacity.

He has guided the development of the California High Speed Train Project from its inception, and has been an advocate for high speed train nationwide. The project has evolved from a planning concept to a fully developed project with a 800 mile system that has won political, community and finally voter support and is poised for implementation in 2009.

"As executive director of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, it is my job to ensure that members of the Authority board receive the best, most comprehensive and up-to-date information available to help them chart the future direction of high-speed train service in this state," says Morshed.

The Authority board is responsible for preparing a viable financing plan and operational structure for a critical new transportation link between Los Angeles and the Bay Area through the Central Valley, with links to Sacramento and San Diego.

Prior to becoming the Executive Director, Morshed served as the principal policy person on transportation issues for the California State Senate for more than 20 years. Prior to that, he worked for the California Department of Transportation in various capacities, including planning, design and construction of bridges. He was a member of the design engineering team for San Diego's Coronado Bridge.

Educated at the University of Washington in Seattle as a civil engineer, he received a master's degree in transportation engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

While with the California Senate, Morshed was responsible for the development and enactment of a wide range of transportation laws, policies and programs. Besides establishing rules for driving, vehicle safety and emission standards, he helped guide creation of the state's principal transportation institutions such as the High-Speed Rail Authority, the California Transportation Commission and various local and regional commissions, transportation districts and other agencies.

He helped establish policies for oversight of the Department of Transportation, Department of Motor Vehicles, Highway Patrol and the Air Resources Board as well as creative concepts for generation and distribution of revenues to pay for highways and roads, public safety and mass transit.