Our Executive Team

Our Executive Team

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 37 years, he has involved the firm in a wide-array of public and private work, including light rail, heavy rail, commuter rail, high speed rail, medical, and educational, facilities.

Muhieddine Maaz, P.E.

Executive Vice President / Director of Engineering

With more than a quarter century of experience in California as a Design and Construction Manager for a wide range of project types in both public and private sector industries, Muhieddine Maaz, P.E., offers a 360 – degree perspective of design, construction management, value engineering and quality control.

Muhieddine has day-to-day accountability for Transmetrics’ operations and strategic planning efforts. Muhieddine ensures all Transmetrics, Inc.’s projects have the proper resources necessary to ensure projects are completed on-time and within budget.

Muhieddine has a well-deserved reputation for managing complex project teams encompassing multiple disciplines, building the consensus that keeps projects moving forward, and upholding the standards necessary for the project’s best interest. He has managed a variety of projects in California with a proven ability to deliver projects while following all administrative and accounting protocols. He has successfully worked on million – to multi-billion – dollar projects for clients such as: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transportation Administration (FTA), California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSR), Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC), IBM, Bechtel, Level 3 Communication, and various additional cities and counties. ”

Lisa S. Suits, MBA

Manager, Administration and Finance

Ms. Suits has over ten years of experience in accounting and administration; implementation of accounting policies and procedures such as auditing, financial planning and analysis and restructuring. Ms. Suits has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and a Master in Business Adminstration (MBA) in Management from the University of Toledo, Ohio.

Grace Kubota Ybarra, J,D

Corporate Counsel

Mrs. Ybarra has been on the Board of Directors for 35 years and serves as lead counsel for contract negotiations and human resources. Mrs. Ybarra was born in San Jose, CA and holds a Master Degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a graduate of Santa Clara University Law School and has been an attorney in private practice for 50 years.

Jacques Balause

Senior Advisor, High Speed Rail

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 the U.S, the ACELA Express and the Florida Overland Express. He currently represents Transmetrics in Europe.

Alena Trushchankova, P.E.

Project Manager

Ms. Truschankova bridges the boundaries between engineering and corporate management, leading the technical personnel who contribute to the successful completion of all projects.

Alena’s responsibilities include schedule preparation, pre-planning and resource forecasting for engineering and other technical activities relating to the projects. She is an experienced leader in quality assurance and quality control; right of way engineering and easement coordination; infrastructure improvements and utility relocations.

Ms. Trushchankova has a Bachelor of Science degree and Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the Belarusian National University in Minsk, Belarus. She is LEED Accredited Professional by the Green Building Certification Institute.