Leadership Team

Ethan Benatan has more than 25 years of experience leading high-level IT functions and strategy. Prior to joining TriMet’s executive team, Ethan worked for the State of Oregon as Modernization Director for the Oregon Employment Department, and as Strategic Technology Officer for the state’s Enterprise Information Services. While at the State of Oregon, Ethan led advancements in technology transformation projects and oversaw $500 million in statewide IT initiatives, governance and policy for agencies that serve more than a million Oregonians and employed more than 16,000 staff in the Health and Human Services sector.

Prior to working for the state, Ethan served in Chief Information Officer roles at Health Republic Insurance Company and at Marylhurst University. He also spent eight years as Director of Computer User Services at Reed College.

Ethan holds a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh with a focus in artificial intelligence, and he earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and microbiology from the University of Cape Town. He is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum and a Fellow of the Leading Change Institute.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ethan grew up in South Africa and traveled widely before coming to Oregon in 2002. He has volunteered at EDUCAUSE, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to using information technology to advance higher education initiatives.

John Gardner leads TriMet’s Public Access and Innovation Division, overseeing our efforts to ensure access to public transportation, provide innovative programs and process improvements, support contractor and small business development efforts and direct TriMet’s Certified Contracting, Language Access, and Civil Rights programs and policies.

John has a long history of innovating at TriMet since joining in November 2015. During this tenure, John helped develop and launch TriMet’s highly successful income-based reduced fare program and strengthened our agency’s civil rights program, making it one of most robust in the nation. John also led TriMet’s highly successful Reimagining Public Safety on Transit initiative.

Before coming to TriMet, John served as the Director of Business Services for the Workforce Development Board of Multnomah and Washington Counties where he supported dozens of workforce and economic development efforts. While there he helped the agency achieve recognition as the number one Workforce Board in the country through a series of highly successful initiatives, and programs, and developed and supported a resource development system that helped secure over $100 million dollars in employment, education, and training grants for the region.

John earned a bachelor degree in Education from Concordia University in Portland, and he has a Project Management Certification from Portland State.

Claire joined TriMet in November 2024 as our agency’s first Chief of Strategy and Planning. She leads strategic planning and development, with oversight of Planning, Engineering and Construction and Public Access and Innovation, as well as our transition to a zero-emissions bus fleet.

Claire has more than 20 years of experience in public policy and leading collaboration to build out strategy, technical systems and infrastructure. Her experience and strengths will be integral for regional projects such as the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program, 82nd Avenue Transit Project and major initiatives to grow ridership and maintain our transit assets.

Before coming to TriMet, Claire spent more than seven years at Sound Transit. She served as Deputy Executive Director of Portfolio Management and Integrity in the Seattle transit agency’s Portfolio Services Office for more than three years. In that role, she helped streamline and optimize processes for building out Sound Transit’s light rail system. Prior to that, Claire served as their Chief of Staff of Operations, acting as a key advisor facilitating strategic partnerships and negotiating intergovernmental agreements with partner agencies.

Claire worked in state-level politics in Michigan, her home state, for nearly 15 years before coming to the Pacific Northwest. She served as the Deputy Director of Strategy for then-Governor Rick Snyder for more than seven years. She was a top leader on his administration’s strategy team, leading policy work as well as cultural and transformational change across the entire state government. Prior to her work in the Governor’s administration, Claire worked in the Michigan Senate as a legislative staffer in various capacities.

Claire holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in public administration from University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Kimberly Sewell has more than 28 years of experience in law and labor relations. Kimberly has been with TriMet since 2002. She was promoted to the executive team in 2018, after previously serving as our Director of Legal Services.

In her previous roles in the Legal Services Division, Kimberly has developed a keen insight and understanding of employment and labor laws. She worked closely with the Labor Relations team, representing TriMet before the Employment Relations Board, resolving grievances, interpreting contracts and participating in negotiations and mediations.

Kimberly has also provided critical guidance to TriMet’s Human Resources team. She helped establish TriMet’s workers’ compensation program, assisted on development of HR policies and procedures, and advised our agency on state and federal employee rights and equal employment opportunity laws.

She has a Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Oregon’s School of Law and received her bachelor’s degree from Long Beach State University.

Inessa M. Vitko is TriMet’s Chief Operations Officer, focusing on our agency’s day-to-day operations and training.

Inessa returned to TriMet in 2022 and served as Executive Director of Transportation for three years. During that time, she helped rebuild the culture with an emphasis on safety and service performance. She oversaw her team’s strategic efforts to expand employee engagement, support, recognition and communication. Additionally, Inessa helped her team and our agency deliver on projects like NEXT on-demand service, the A Better Red MAX Line Extension and the APTA International Bus Roadeo and Mobility Conference hosted by TriMet. She has extensive knowledge across many transit functions and previously served as Chief Operations Officer at C-TRAN in Clark County, Washington. She began her transit career at TriMet in 2006 before moving to the Vancouver bus agency in 2018.

In her first 12 years at TriMet, Inessa worked her way up to become the head of the first ever Customer Experience department and helped elevate customer-forward thinking inside our agency. She played a key role in many major projects at TriMet, including the opening of the MAX Orange Line, the launch of the Hop Fastpass® electronic fare system, coordination for major MAX improvement projects and service planning for the Transit Mall renovation, which was part of the construction of the MAX Green Line.

Inessa has garnered broad labor management experience across most of her roles and has built a lasting relationship with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757, the union which represents many of TriMet’s employees.

Inessa holds a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor's degree in mathematics and statistics, both from Portland State University. She is an avid basketball fan and can be found cheering on the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, the WNBA’s Portland Fire and the G-League’s Rip City Remix. In her downtime, she enjoys traveling and sailing with her husband.

Andrew Wilson brings more than 20 years of risk management experience and an impressive TriMet history of leadership performance, fiscal responsibility and dedication to the safety and well-being of TriMet riders, employees and the public.

Prior to becoming TriMet’s Chief Safety and Security Officer, Andrew served as TriMet’s Director of Risk Management. In that role, he supervised the liability claims team and served as our agency’s leading resource for risk analysis and insurance. He created TriMet’s first Enterprise Risk Register, a comprehensive online portal capturing hundreds of high-impact risks and their associated mitigation strategies.

Andrew also led a multidivisional group that completed TriMet’s first Carbon Audit in support of our agency’s climate objectives, and he headed up TriMet’s COVID-19 response serving as TriMet’s COVID-19 Incident Commander for much of 2020.

Since taking the role as TriMet’s Chief Safety & Security Officer in January 2022, Andrew has dramatically reshaped TriMet’s security program. He fully implemented the results of our Reimagining Public Safety & Security on Transit initiative alongside members of the community, and advanced TriMet’s safety and security efforts with new investments, innovations and strategic approaches. During his tenure, TriMet has experienced marked reductions in police activity and assaults on the system. His leadership was critical in TriMet winning three back-to-back APTA Rail Security Gold Awards (2023, 2024 and 2025) and the 2023 APTA Rail Safety Gold Award.

Andrew completed the ENO Transit Executive Program in 2018. He has a bachelor’s degree in history, political science and peace studies from George Fox University, and a master’s degree in history from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom.