Metra taps one its own to be new CEO of transit agency – Chicago Tribune

Facing a tighter budget, the Metra board of directors on Wednesday decided to look within the agency for its next CEO, turning to a 20-year veteran who is used to dealing with the costs of repairing and replacing the railroad's aging equipment.

In a unanimous vote during its regular monthly meeting, the board hired James Derwinski, 49, currently Metra's chief mechanical officer, to replace current Executive Director Don Orseno, who is retiring at the end of the year. Orseno also had been a longtime Metra veteran, and the board decided again to go with an internal candidate to lead the commuter rail service after a nationwide search.

A resident of northwest Indiana who commutes via Metra now and again, Derwinski was hired by the transit agency in 1997, working his way through the ranks to management. As chief mechanical officer, he oversees 650 employees responsible for repair, inspection, cleaning and maintenance of nearly 1,200 rail cars and locomotives. His 2016 pay was $171,704, according to Metra.

In the CEO's seat he'll be paid a salary of $275,000 effective Jan. 1, a drop from Orseno's salary of $317,500. The salary is lower because Derwinski has less experience, said Metra spokesman Michael Gillis.

Martin Oberman, a former Metra board member and chairman and ex-Chicago alderman, praised the Derwinski pick as a "good choice."

"He keeps the cars and locomotives running on scanty resources and knows how to manage people," Oberman said. "His workforce really looks up to him. He's got a very good personality."

In remarks to the board after the vote, Derwinski said he looked forward to working with Orseno in the coming months. "The direction the organization has gone in is the direction we need to continue to go," he said.

Orseno, a 43-year rail veteran credited by transportation experts with helping to restore stability to the agency after years of turmoil, said he was retiring to spend more time with his family.

The next Metra CEO has to deal with a complex system that runs 750 trains a day while having to share lines with freight trains and Amtrak. The new head also will have to contend with the ongoing budget crisis in Springfield; the agency has gone years without a state capital program to upgrade its aging system. Metra has raised fares three times in the last three years.

The funding problems for Metra are getting worse. Metra Chief Financial Officer Thomas Farmer reported to the board that expected funding amounts from the Regional Transportation Authority the financial and oversight agency for Metra, the CTA and PACE will be lower between this year and 2020.

For 2017, the forecast is down more than $22 million than what was expected, from $428.2 million to $405.6 million, due mostly to lower sales tax collection. So the new CEO will have less money to work with.

Oberman said Derwinski understood how complicated Metra's system is, which is an advantage compared with someone from the outside.

"With our funding challenges, we need someone with his proven energy and resourcefulness to keep us on track as we face some difficult years ahead," said Board Vice Chair Romayne Brown, who led the board's search. "Jim is that person."

Derwinski told reporters afterward that one of his skills is making Metra's case in Springfield as one of the agency's representatives.

"One of the things I'm very good at is telling our side of the story down there about the age of the equipment and our needs," Derwinski said.

Metra's board had considered both internal and external candidates. But the agency's last experience with a CEO from outside Metra had been rocky and expensive. Before Orseno, the Metra executive director was Alex Clifford, who came from the Los Angeles' Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or Metro.

Clifford raised allegations of political interference at Metra, was forced out and got a severance package valued at up to $871,000. Clifford had succeeded Phil Pagano, who killed himself in 2010 by stepping in front of a Metra train after allegations of financial misconduct.

Orseno became Metra's executive director and CEO in January 2014, having served as interim head of the service since August 2013.

Derwinski served for six years in the Navy as an electrician on nuclear submarines, then began his railroad career as a locomotive electrician with the Chicago & North Western railroad in 1993. He took college courses in engineering while working as an electrician but did not earn a degree, Gillis said.

Derwinski joined Metra as an electrician in 1997 and rose through the ranks, serving as a foreman, general foreman, shop superintendent, director of systems maintenance, locomotive superintendent, Rock Island division director, Milwaukee division director and then senior director of mechanical operations, becoming chief mechanical officer in September 2013.

Derwinski lives in Crown Point, Ind., and takes Metra occasionally, Gillis said. He was born in Flagstaff, Ariz., but grew up in the south suburbs of Glenwood and South Holland, where he attended Thornwood High School.

Asked about whether he might consider consulting with Metra after retirement, Orseno said he plans to go to "where it's warm" for the winter. "I don't know what the future will bring," he said.

Through a spokeswoman, RTA head Leanne Redden praised the choice of Derwinski.

"We are pleased that Metra continues to look to its own talent by choosing this seasoned professional to move forward to provide quality public transportation in our region," Redden said.

mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @marywizchicago

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Metra taps one its own to be new CEO of transit agency - Chicago Tribune