Kevin B. Quinn Jr., CEO of the Maryland Transit Administration since 2017 and state lead for the controversial $5.6-billion Purple Line light-rail project, will join TransLink, the Vancouver, B.C., regional transit agency, as CEO, effective July 19, as it pushes to rebuild its COVID-19 ridership and a budgeted $9-billion expansion.

MTA named as interim CEO, effective June 4, Holly Arnold, the agency’s deputy administrator and planning, programming and engineering officer.  

Quinn replaces Kevin Desmond, who left the agency in February after joining it in 2016 from a previous role as general manager of King County Metro Transit in Seattle. Desmond has joined New York City-based consultant Sam Schwartz Engineering as principal and national transit and rail director.

The American Public Transportation Association named TransLink the best system in North America in 2019, but ridership fell 83% in the early months of COVID-19. It gained back about 40% by last fall. Under its Transport 2050 program, the agency is developing a regional 30-year transportation blueprint. 

Quinn was MTA chief during a tough period for the 16-mile Purple Line, a public-private partnership that faced multiple lawsuits, delays and cost hikes that drove its Fluor Corp.-led design-build team to leave the project in 2020, adding to its completion delay. To complete the project, Meridiam and Star America, the remaining concession partners, plan to select a new contractor in July from three shortlisted teams and finalize a contract by September.

Laura Mason will join Amtrak June 28 as executive vice president of major program delivery, a new role to manage the national rail carrier’s largest infrastructure programs. She is currently executive vice president of capital delivery at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which operates regional Washington, D.C., transit service.

Mason is also a former Bechtel business development manager for North America public infrastructure. Amtrak ridership remains at about 70% of its pre-pandemic level, but work continues on infrastructure projects that include the Washington Union Station expansion.

KS Engineers P.C., Newark, N.J., has named as vice chairman Elliot “Lee” Sander, a veteran transportation executive who most recently was Americas senior vice president at global rail systems manufacturer Alstom. He also had been president of Bombardier Americas, which Alstom acquired in January for $5.5 billion. Sander also is former CEO of the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority. KS Engineers was awarded earlier this month a construction management services contract from New Jersey Transit for renovation of the Perth Amboy station, built in 1927. 

McKim & Creed Inc., an engineering and geomatics firm based in Raleigh, N.C., has hired Steven W. Smith as CEO. In that role, he succeeds John T. Lucey Jr., who remains chairman. Smith was managing director of WSP Global’s UK Transport & Infrastructure unit. McKim & Creed ranks No. 149 on ENR’s Top 500 Design Firms list, reporting $118.4 million in 2020 revenue.