Caltrain Welcomes New SF Board Member

Audrey Rice Oliver, president and chief executive officer of ARO & Associates, has joined the Caltrain board of directors, representing the San Francisco Mayor's Office.

Oliver succeeds board vice chair Maria Ayerdi, who recently became the executive director of the agency that is leading efforts to build a new multimodal Transbay Terminal and Caltrain downtown extension in San Francisco.

"Transportation is my life and my background," said Oliver, who brings to her role at Caltrain impressive credentials and expertise in the public and private sectors, including in the transportation field.

Oliver considers transportation "probably the greatest challenge in California and I'm hoping that we can get out in front with solutions."

She was appointed by then-U.S. Transportation Secretary Frederic Peña to the Federal Maglev Study Advisory Committee and has also served on the California High Speed Rail Commission.

In 2001, Oliver was named by Governor Gray Davis to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission and to the Commission on Building the 21st Century in 1999.

Her Oakland consulting firm provides advocacy, research and business opportunities to companies and government entities. She was named by the U.S. Department of Commerce as the "1996 National Minority Entrepreneur of the Year."

An active volunteer in numerous organizations, she served five years as president of the board at Girls Incorporated of Alameda County and two years as president of the board of the Leadership Institute at Oakland Allen Temple Baptist Church.