Steve Heminger
Quick Facts
Biography
Steve Heminger is the executive director of the San Francisco Bay area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission. His compensation package for 2012 totalled $360,533, plus 5 weeks vacation.
Early life and education
Heminger received his bachelor's degree from Georgetown University and his master's degree from the University of Chicago.
Career
Heminger was appointed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of California to serve on the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission.
Heminger, a Democrat, has been active in transportation politics, and he has recommended that the federal gasoline tax be raised by forty cents per gallon. He was also a possible candidate to be President Barack Obama's nominee as Secretary of Transportation. Obama would ultimately choose Ray LaHood and not Heminger to fill the Transportation post.
Heminger's leadership of the MTC has been controversial, with concerns over the lengthy span of his MTC employment , budgetary expenditures related to new MTC headquarters in San Francisco and the lack of collaboration displayed when working with local government agencies in the 9 County area represented. Heminger's signature Plan Bay Area strategy was controversially approved, despite widely voiced concern from local and municipal stakeholders during public outreach stages.