Jeff Nelson is a public transportation leader who specializes in urban design, land use planning and economic development.  As CEO/Managing Director for the Rock Island County Metropolitan Mass Transit District (MetroLINK), Mr. Nelson directs services including Metro fixed route bus, ADA paratransit, and the Channel Cat Water Taxi passenger ferryboat.  During his 40 years as CEO his strategic focus has been on implementing cutting edge programs with an emphasis on economic growth, sustainability, technology, and workforce development. Under his guidance MetroLINK was awarded the American Public Transportation Association “Outstanding Public Transportation Award”.  Other notable leadership recognitions include the Federal Transportation Administration’s “State Leadership Award”, numerous APTA “AdWheel” Awards, APTA “Bus Safety Gold Award”, Metro Magazine “Innovation of the Year Award”, Quad City Chamber of Commerce “Multi Modal” Award, the NAACP “Business Image Award”, and various community and civic sustainability awards for excellence in environmental planning.

Recognized as a progressive leader of exceptional skill and foresight, Mr. Nelson brings strong vision and leadership in the disciplines of sustainability, community growth, infrastructure and planning, creative public/pri­vate partnerships, and economic development. Nelson was an early adopter of alternative fuels, implementing Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) transit buses into the Metro fixed route fleet in 2002.  Today, Metro’s fleet is 100% eco-friendly, with 70% compressed natural gas vehicles, and 30% battery electric vehicles.  

His experience in creating sustainable communities using transportation investment as a catalyst for future development include transit multimodal facilities in the downtowns of Moline, East Moline, and Rock Island.  Additional projects include the construction of a state-of-the-art, sustainable “Operations and Maintenance Center”, and the planning, development, and construction of a $30 million public -private historic redevelopment in downtown Moline, which will support passenger rail service from Chicago to Moline. 

Under Jeff’s leadership, the FTA awarded MetroLINK a grant to develop a cybersecurity assessment tool to assess its cyber posture as part of FTA’s Public Transportation COVID-19 Research Demonstration Grant Program. MetroLINK recently developed the Cybersecurity Assessment Tool for Transit (CATT), which assists public transit agencies in formalizing and developing their cybersecurity program. The goal of the tool is to onboard public transit organizations to develop and strengthen their cybersecurity program to identify risks and prioritize activities to mitigate these risks.

Mr. Nelson has served on a variety of community boards and committees throughout his professional career. He has been actively involved with the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) for three decades, serving in a number of leadership positions including Chair of the APTA Board of Directors. Other board affiliates include Chair, Quad Cities Manufacturing Lab; Board Trustee, Two Rivers YMCA; Vice President, Illinois Public Transportation Association; Chair, National Transit Institute at Rutgers; and Moline Police and Fire Commissioner.  Mr. Nelson holds a B.S. in Political Science from Western Illinois University, a M.B.A. from St. Ambrose University, and is a graduate of the Kennedy School of Business “Creating Collaborative Solutions” program.