James Campbell
Assistant Vice President, Manager of Business Development, Rail
WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff
- Alma Mater: University of California, San Diego
- Favorite hobby(s): Hiking, crafts, sports and railroads
James Campbell grew up in the transportation field, his father being a Principal Transportation Analyst for the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA). Campbell started his transportation career as a bus driver while attending college in San Diego. Now, as a Technical Manager for transit and rail projects at WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff.
With over 15 years of experience, Campbell oversees projects to be integrated into existing transit systems and helps lay out clear plans for infrastructure development in a populous and ever-changing transportation landscape. His experience includes managing and assisting agency coordination and technical work for various rail, transit, and general transportation studies, such as strategic plans, alternative corridor analyses, traffic impact studies, rail and transit operational analyses, and route and station planning. He has a wealth of knowledge of the rail and transit projects in Southern California, and his history with the region combined with his extensive experience gives him a unique perspective and understanding of transit and rail needs.
Two accomplishments that Campbell is most proud of are the development of the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Corridorwide 2012 Strategic Implementation Plan and the 2015-2025 Metrolink Strategic Plan. To develop them and get them adopted, required the concurrence and buy-in of the member agencies that are part of each Joint Powers Authority (both the LOSSAN JPA and the Southern California Regional Rail Authority JPA). In total, there were 14 government agencies that Campbell worked with. To obtain concurrence on a single plan and vision with so many members, Campbell felt was a huge accomplishment and something he is proud of.
"I try to engage early on if I can. I think that the earlier that stakeholders are brought into a process, the more they feel ownership of it and are more likely to be - by no means guaranteed - to help support it. I think some of the biggest things are that you have to be open, you have to communicate - otherwise it really makes it more challenging or impossible to move a product forward."
Fun fact: Campbell started working at 16 on the family farm in Washington picking cucumbers and was qualified to drive tractor semi’s
