Welcome TriMet General Manager Sam Desue, Jr.

The Coalition is pleased to know the outcome of Trimet’s more transparent process has resulted in the hiring of Sam Desue, Jr. as the next General Manager. The feedback from Getting There Together Coalition members was incorporated into some aspects of Trimet’s General Manager hiring process. A number of GTT member organizations were represented in the community panel and were able to meet directly with and pose pre-selected questions to the three finalists for the role. All candidates remarked on the value of stronger roles for community stakeholders in the interview process.

We believe the engagement of community members and advocates resulted in the selection of a candidate well suited to address our region’s largest issues, such as increasing ridership, safety and discriminatory policing, and addressing inequities in fare and accessibility. We commend TriMet for their process, which involved more community input than in past hiring practices, and we look forward to building our own relationship with General Manager Desue to further transportation justice in our region.