Rod Diridon Sr.

• Emeritus Executive Director, Mineta Transportation Institute
• Chair Emeritus, California High-Speed Rail Authority
• Chair Emeritus, High-Speed and Intercity Rail Committee and the National High-Speed Rail Corridors Coalition of the American Public Transportation Association
• Former North American Vice Chair, International Transit Association
• Former Chair, Association of Bay Area Governments
• Former Chair, Bay Area Air Quality Management District
• Former Chair, Metropolitan Transportation Commission
• Former Chair, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
• Former Member, Saratoga City Council

Rod Diridon, Sr. is known as the “father” of modern transit service in Silicon Valley and has chaired more than 100 international, national, state, and local programs, most related to transit and the environment.

He began his political service in 1971 when elected to the Saratoga City Council. He retired in 1995 after completing six terms as chair of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and the Transit Board. Diridon also chaired the San Francisco Bay Area’s three regional governments: the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and the Association of Bay Area Governments. He chaired nine successful rail system development project boards. Upon his retirement from public office, Santa Clara County renamed its main train station “San Jose Diridon Station.”

From 1993 to 2014, he was executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI), a transportation policy research center created in 1991 by Congress. Today, Rod is still affiliated with the Institute as its Emeritus Executive Director. He frequently provides legislative testimony on sustainability.