The Council of San Benito County Governments ended its six-month
search for a new executive director, hiring a man who set up the
Los Angeles County passenger rail service.
Late last week, the COG Board officially installed Tom Quigley
as the head of the multi-jurisdictional agency.
Quigley, 54, was hired to replace interim Executive Director Rob
Mendiola.
The Council of San Benito County Governments ended its six-month search for a new executive director, hiring a man who set up the Los Angeles County passenger rail service.
Late last week, the COG Board officially installed Tom Quigley as the head of the multi-jurisdictional agency.
Quigley, 54, was hired to replace interim Executive Director Rob Mendiola.
Quigley’s hiring marks the first time the position will be a full-time position to oversee the increasing responsibilities of the multi-jurisdictional agency.
“We’re looking at hiring a full-time person to do the work because it really has become a full-time job,” COG Director Pauline Valdivia said. “We need somebody who has experience and insight.”
Quigley, an Atlantic City, N.J. native, brings an extensive list of professional accomplishments, including creating a transit service in northwestern Pennsylvania and working in Palm Springs as director of transportation before taking a job in Los Angeles County where he established its passenger rail service.
For several years, Quigley worked as transportation manager in Chicago before deciding to do consulting work.
Quigley said his love for the California climate and lifestyle were part of what drew him back to the West Coast.
“When I was working in L.A., for what is now the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, it was a one-year project. I had a house on a beach in Malibu and I always wanted to come back,” Quigley said.
“I wanted a chance to get back into the public sector,” he added. “In order to stay fresh, you need to be the manager of an operation and this place gives me the opportunity to get back into the transit field.”
Unlike many transportation officials who believe they can run everything from behind a desk, Quigley said he is a manager who needs to see things the way his clients – the public – sees them.
“I’m into what they call management by walking around,” Quigley said. “I believe in putting the customer first. So, I’ll be riding the buses and talking to the drivers, talking to the riders and talking to the shop mechanics.”
In February, Mendiola took the interim position after former Hollister City Manager George Lewis retired in January.
Lewis replaced COG Deputy Director Walt Allen, who was named interim executive director shortly after Public Works Director Max Bridges stepped down as the previous COG executive director in July 1999.
During the years, the executive director has served part-time position, sharing duties between COG and as the department head with another local government agency.
