Rod Diridon, Sr.

Rod Diridon, Sr., the son of an immigrant Italian railroad brakeman, is the "father" of modern transit service in California's Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County). His political career began in 1972 as the youngest person ever elected to the Saratoga City Council. He recently retired because of term limits, after completing 20 years and six terms as chairperson of both the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and Transit Board. He is the only person to have chaired the San Francisco Bay Area's (nine counties and 104 cities) three regional governments: the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and the Association of Bay Area Governments.

Rod has chaired over 100 international, national, state and local community service programs and projects, most related to transit and the environment. He served, in 1993, as the chairperson of the American Public Transit Association in Washington, D.C., and more recently as the North American Vice President of the International Transit Association in Brussels. He has been an advisor to the Federal Transit Administration and in 1995 chaired the National Research Council's Transit Oversight and Project Selection Committee. Rod currently chairs the NRC's Transportation Research Board's study panel on "Combating Global Warming Through Sustainable Transportation Policy." He is frequently asked to provide testimony to Congressional Committees.

Promoting international understanding and commerce, then-Supervisor Diridon founded and has been the principal liaison for the Santa Clara County Sister County Commissions with the Province of Florence, Italy, and the Region of Moscow in Russia. He has given speeches promoting mass transportation and environmental protection in over 45 U.S. cities and a dozen foreign countries.

Rod is on the corporate boards of directors of the San Jose National Bank and the Empire Broadcasting Company. From 1969 to 1976, he founded and served as president of the Decision Research Institute, where he developed a "shared survey" research procedure subsequently adopted by the UNICEF of the United Nations.

In 1976, Rod chaired the campaign for the first successful 1/2-cent sales tax for transit in California, and subsequently chaired five successful transit master plan elections and tax measures. He was the Northern California co-chair for both the 1988 Dukakis and the 1992 Clinton campaigns and several others.

He is president and founder of the California Trolley and Railroad Corporation, chairs the area's League of Conservation Voters Board, and is active in numerous community programs promoting environmental protection, historic preservation and youth programs. He is especially proud of son Rod, Jr. (a Santa Clara City Council member), and daughter Mary Margaret (a County youth counselor/medical social worker). Rod is currently the executive director of the Norman Y. Mineta International Institute for Surface Transportation Policy Studies created by Congress in 1991.

Rod earned both B.S. in accounting and M.S. in business administration from San Jose State University, and was a Naval Officer with two Vietnam combat tours. He was chosen one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of America in 1972, listed in Who's Who in America since 1974, and among the ten most influential Silicon Valley leaders since 1980. He was recently named one of the "Millennium 100" who contributed most to the success of Silicon Valley. Upon his retirement from elected office in 1994, the historic Amtrak/Caltrain Station in San Jose was renamed the San Jose Diridon Station in his honor. He has received numerous other awards and citations.