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Meet Lee Ann Eager, chair of the state Transportation Commission

Equity and safety are top priorities for Lee Ann Eager, the chair of the California Transportation Commission.

The low-profile Eager — few statewide have even heard her name — holds a critical position in state government. As CTC chair, the Fresno native heads the agency that figures out how best to spend money on the state’s mammoth highway and transit systems, a daunting task.

The 13-member commission needs to make sure all areas of California benefit, Eager said. Too often, the focus is on the big population centers on the coast, rather than the Central Valley or the rural areas in the middle and north of the state, she said. “There’s no reason to leave anybody out of this process,” she said.

The daughter of a high school football coach, she went to school with the same people from kindergarten to graduation.

Ensuring that the roads are in good condition is critical, Eager added. People need to be able to get from point A to point B in the state without putting themselves in danger.

Eager was appointed to the commission by Gov. Gavin Newsom in June 2020 and became chair in March. She is chief executive officer of the Fresno County Economic Development Corporation, which markets the region to businesses.

Kurt Madden, who was on the board of the EDC when she was hired and is now the chief executive officer of Career Nexus, called Eager Fresno’s “economic ambassador to the world.” He said Eager is a “superstar” who is skilled at building connections between diverse people and organizations. “She’s not somebody you should ever underestimate,” he said. “She figures it out and figures out how to be successful.”

Eager has always lived in Fresno and has a deep knowledge of the city, which she describes as “tight-knit.” The daughter of a high school football coach, she went to school with the same people from kindergarten to graduation. “People cared about each other,” she said.

People are sometimes surprised to learn that she used to be executive director of Rape Counseling Services of Fresno.

She has been married for 37 years and has a daughter and four step-children. She and her husband have 12 grandchildren ages 2-to-23. When she can get a chance, she goes to the theater and enjoys reading and movies, but she admits she doesn’t have a lot of free time.

Eager earned her bachelor’s degree in criminology from California State University, Fresno (she loves cheering on the Bulldogs teams) and her law degree from the University of California at Davis.

Her career path has taken many twists and turns over the years. People are sometimes surprised to learn that she used to be executive director of Rape Counseling Services of Fresno, an organization that was founded in the 1980s.

“They told us you should take ‘rape’ out of the name because it makes people uncomfortable,” she said, adding that she is amazed how much progress has been made in raising awareness of sexual assault.

Eager found that if you want to make a difference in the world, you have to fight poverty.

Eager went on to become board chair of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault and helped then-Sen. Joe Biden in drafting the first Violence Against Women Act.

She then worked as a lawyer for a time and focused on economic development. Eager found that if you want to make a difference in the world, you have to fight poverty. She had seen from her work on sexual assault, that if women were often not able to leave abusive situations when they didn’t have enough money or a job.

To help people find employment, you need to think about transportation. Eager realized how important adequate transit systems were to get employees to their jobs. She soon became California High Speed Rail, which aims to connect the major population centers of the state.

“High speed rail is the appropriate thing for us in California,” she said. “It gets people out of their cars into another mode of transportation.”

She has been vigilant in making sure the high-speed rail will connect with other services like Amtrak and the Altamont Corridor Express.

She has traveled the world looking at other high-speed rail projects and points to Spain as a great role model in a similar-sized project. One of the best benefits is that it gives communities in between major population centers access to these major economic drivers, she said.  For instance, a big corporation in LA could have a second office in Fresno and employees could quickly get back and forth to meet with each other.

Brian Kelly, CEO of the California High Speed Rail Authority, said he appreciates Eager’s unwavering commitment to the project. She has been vigilant in making sure the high-speed rail will connect with other services like Amtrak and the Altamont Corridor Express (ACE) trains in the Bay Area.

“She’s well suited for the position she’s in at the CTC and she does a great job at forging agreements with people,” he said. “It’s been a joy to work with her.”

Eager has remained a steadfast advocate despite heavy criticism for the project. Back in 2008 when voters approved $9 billion for the system, it was estimated it would cost $33 billion and start running by 2020, but now the projected cost is $105 billion and trains still aren’t running.

She also defends the state’s controversial gas tax, which results in Californians paying much more at the pump than other states (i.e., $3.50/gallon in South Carolina vs. $5-$6 or more here).  The California Transportation Commission decides how that money is allocated.

Eager points out that states with cheaper gas prices don’t have the number of highways to maintain that California does. “We have a huge state,” she said.

She is proud of how the California Transportation Commission distributed $2.3 billion in gas tax revenues this summer to roads across the state. The communities getting the money are appreciative, she said. “They are desperate to fix those roads.”

Eager said her biggest challenge in her work on the transportation commission is getting those who have been left out of state funding before to trust that the allocation process is more equitable now. She said she welcomes any engagement, including criticism.

“We want people to say, ‘here’s what you did wrong before,” she said. “If it’s been wrong before, let’s figure out how to do it right. That trust is something that we’re going to have to prove.”

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