Cityfi Spotlight: Get to know our team
Welcome to our first edition of Cityfi Spotlight: an opportunity to get to know our team and a moment for us to talk about why we love to do what we do. To kick us off, we’re talking to one of our newest team members, Ahmed Darrat.
Ahmed, tell us what you do for Cityfi.
I’m a Market Lead at Cityfi and I lead our team in Los Angeles. I’ve been around for about 5 months now and that’s how the job was advertised when I applied. Since I’ve come on I’ve worked on more projects nationally than I have in Southern California so I’ve joked around about what my “market” is. I’m an engineer so maybe it’s engineering or more specifically intelligent transportation systems or maybe its geographic areas — its fluid.
What exactly does that mean on your day to day?
At a macro level, half of my job is more administrative in that I maintain relationships with all of our clients mainly in Southern California. I write a lot of proposals in that time as well. The other half of my job is technical. I manage projects in my areas as well as provide subject matter expertise on transportation projects.
Tell us a little bit about your background.
I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky and lived there until I went to college at the University of Texas in Austin. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering. I worked for a couple of years as a Bridge Inspector in Austin before I realized I hated structural engineering. I needed to work on problems that were more open ended so I found a job at the Seattle Department of Transportation. I worked on capital projects doing design work for signal and lighting for about 5 years. Then I decided I wanted to get into management so I took a lateral move to become the Signal Maintenance Manager in our Traffic Operations Division. I moved up from there to take over our Signs and Markings groups and then eventually Signal Timing and Signal Design.
Then out of nowhere, I got a call one day from the Policy Director in the Mayor’s Office who asked me to join the administration as the Transportation Policy Director so I thought that would be fun and did that for a year. After my year in the Mayor’s Office I decided I wanted to do something drastically different so I took a 9 month sabbatical in the Middle East working on big ITS projects and when I decided to come back to the US I landed at Cityfi.
Tell us a fun fact about signals.
I wrote this really great blog once for all the nerds.
Do you use the colors red, yellow and green often in your life?
We call it amber.
What excites you most about the transportation space right now?
I’m arab so I’m always down for a good negotiation. I’m really interested in shared mobility fees. I think when most of these services first came online cities were responding to conflict with Uber and Lyft and hiked up huge fees that VC backed firms were willing to pay. Now a bunch of companies have gone out of business and we have to decide how do we balance revenue, incentives, and public benefit.
As market lead on the west coast, what are some projects you’re seeing in that part of the country that others can learn from?
It’s really exciting to live in LA and work in the transportation space right now. Seleta Reynolds and LADOT have definitely grabbed the mantle as the trendsetters in the industry and are willing to try new bold ideas. My two favorite things on the LADOT Technology Action Plan are ATSAC 3.0 (signals…obviously) and Code the Curb.
What should cities focus on in the next 1–3 years to improve mobility?
I’m a big fan of the scientific method. Hypothesize, try it, measure it. Be nimble and make data informed decisions.
What does transportation happiness mean to you?
Providing a level of service so that anyone can make the best context based decision about their own mobility.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, what is your favorite cat meme?
I’ll stay on brand:
