Ryan Russo is the Executive Director of the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), an association of North American cities and transit agencies. NACTO curates best practices, connects members, and advocates for cities to make bold, innovative, and people-first changes in urban transportation.
Prior to leading NACTO, Ryan served as the first Director of the Oakland Department of Transportation (OakDOT), where he led the new agency through its inaugural five years of operation. Under Ryan’s leadership, OakDOT quickly became a national model for incorporating equity into transportation planning, policy, programs, and operations. A start-up in government, OakDOT was formed to pursue a vision of a more equitable, safer Oakland with improved access to housing, jobs, schools, and services.
From paving plans to emerging mobility, OakDOT worked to center racial equity in every organizational aspect, and long-neglected communities are now more authentically engaged and collaborating with the government.
Ryan also led OakDOT to launch quickly implemented programs to repurpose streets in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most notably, OakDOT’s “Slow Streets” initiative spurred cities around the country to designate neighborhood streets as shared spaces to serve critical community needs of the moment.
Previously, Ryan spent nearly 14 ground-breaking years at the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), ultimately rising to the position of Deputy Commissioner and serving as an instrumental leader in the transformation of NYCDOT from a focus on moving cars and trucks to meeting the needs of residents, businesses, and visitors.
At NYCDOT, he led initiatives reclaiming hundreds of acres of former street space for walking, transit, and bike riding, taming some of the city’s most dangerous roads and reducing traffic fatalities in NYC to the lowest numbers seen in more than 100 years of record-keeping. Under his leadership, NYC had numerous firsts, including North America’s first on-street parking-protected bike lanes, world-famous pedestrian plazas at Times & Herald Squares, and the U.S.’s first Vision Zero action plan.
Learn more about Ryan’s appointment as Executive Director.