Board Of Directors

Luis Valenzuela
Chairman

Principal, Via Vista Corporation
Member, Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Member, Puente Learning Center
Real estate developer; investor; civic leader and philanthropist in Southern California

Robert Garrison
Vice Chairman

Deputy General Manager,
Construction (Retired)
Bay Area Rapid Transit Authority (BART)
Retired construction manager; 40 years in public service with several large transit projects.

Bruce Nicholson
Director

Architect and Planner
The Nicholson Company
An architect by trade; manages the Nicholson Family Foundation located in Aptos, CA.

Jack Ybarra
Director

President /CEO, Transmetrics, Inc.
Board Member, California Trolley &
Railroad Corp.

Jaime Mario Casso
Director

Attorney-at-Law
Alvarez-Glasman & Colvin
Former chief-of-staff for Congressman Esteban Torres of Montebello, CA; practices municipal law in Los Angeles, CA.

Grace Kubota Ybarra
Director

Attorney in Private Practice
Corporate Counsel
Graduate of Santa Clara University Law School; 35 years practicing law in Santa Clara County.

Back To Top

Principals

Jack Ybarra
President and CEO

Mr. Ybarra founded Transmetrics in 1981. His vision was to establish a respected and high-quality civil engineering firm that would serve both public and private sector clients. Mr. Ybarra’s transit experience dates back to the early 1970’s, when he co-led the effort to establish a transit agency for Santa Clara County. Those efforts resulted in the establishment, of the first, Santa Clara County Transit Agency. Mr. Ybarra has extensive experience in project management and serves as the principal-in-charge on all work performed by the firm. For the past 20 years, he has involved the firm in a wide-array of public and private work, such as commuter rail, light and heavy rail, medical, educational, community facilities.

Mario A. Baratta, P.E.
Executive Vice President Engineering & Operations

Mr. Baratta’s professional career spans over 22 years of public service and 13 years in the private sector. His engineering experience includes design and construction management, contract negotiations and administration; facilities maintenance, budgeting, facilities planning and engineering; project management, transportation management, and personnel management. As a growth manager, his experience with various organizations has been as an engineering manager to organize, staff, plan, carry out or enhance the production and efficiency of these organizations.

Jacques Balause
Senior Advisor, High Speed Rail North America

Mr. Balause is a retired Branch Director, for the French National Railroads, International Business Division for North America and Australia. Mr. Balause has promoted TGV Technology around the world; and has been involved in two major projects in U.S, the ACELA Express and Florida Overland Express. He currently represents Transmetrics in Europe.

Back To Top

Management

Lisa S. Suits
Accounting Manager

Ms. Suits has over ten years of experience in accounting and administration; implementation of accounting policies and procedures; auditing, financial planning and analysis; and restructuring. Ms. Suits has a BS degree in accounting and also MBA in management.

Guisselle Nuñez
Director, Corporate Affairs

Ms. Nuñez has experience in government, community and public affairs; has worked for both the public and private sectors; implemented and managed community and public affairs plans. Ms. Nuñez holds a BA in History and Italian from Santa Clara University.