Tracy Butler named Sound Transit's chief financial officer

Veteran financial leader will play key roles managing major regional transit expansions

Sound Transit's new chief financial officer is Tracy Butler, a proven leader who will play key roles delivering the region's historic investments in expanding mass transit infrastructure and services.

"With 11 years at Sound Transit under her belt, Tracy is an adaptable and proven leader who is respected throughout the agency for her deep technical and institutional knowledge, sharp business acumen, and uncanny knack for accuracy," said Sound Transit Chief Executive Officer Peter Rogoff. "Tracy is the right person at the right time to lead the Finance Department into the future as it guides and supports the agency in executing the largest transit system expansion project in the nation." 

Butler, who has been serving as interim chief financial officer, will report to Deputy Chief Executive Officer Kimberly Farley. 

"I am honored to serve the agency's mission and its communities in my new role," said Butler. "I look forward to working with the Sound Transit team to provide sound, thoughtful stewardship of taxpayer resources for an expanding regional transit network."

Butler has 20 years of experience in progressively expansive roles as a senior financial leader. After joining Sound Transit as treasurer in 2007, she steadily expanded her responsibilities to oversee fare revenue management, financial planning, risk management and budgeting.

In 2016, Butler successfully negotiated for Sound Transit a $2 billion, first-ever master credit agreement issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation. She also managed the agency's debt program, including $3 billion Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans and $2.5 billion of outstanding fixed and variable rate bonds—efforts that led to Sound Transit earning the highest possible credit ratings from Moody's and Standard and Poor's rating agencies. Most recently, Butler led a collaborative effort to implement affordability targets that will guide strategic investment of agency resources in achieving system expansion goals. She has managed Sound Transit's financial plan for the last three years.

Prior to Sound Transit she served in strategic and financial roles at Salem Health Hospital and Clinics, a regional health care system in Oregon; as a consultant for Optima Management, an international management consulting firm in Basel, Switzerland; and at the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Butler earned a master's degree in business administration and public administration from Atkinson Graduate School of Business at Willamette University in Oregon. She spent her undergraduate years at American Graduate School of Business, where she earned a bachelor of science in business administration. She is certified as a financial professional and coach-practitioner of neuro-linguistic programming.