SDOT Director Sam Zimbabwe: Who Is He?

SEATTLE, WA - Mayor Jenny Durkan has nominated Sam Zimbabwe, the Washington, D.C., chief project delivery officer, to take over as director of the Seattle Department of Transportation. If confirmed, he will be the first permanent SDOT director since Scott Kubly stepped down in December 2017.

Durkan announced the pick Tuesday at a press conference after a months-long search that was kept out of public view. Durkan's office refused to reveal the finalists citing a portion of the City Charter governing personnel that says the hiring process should treat candidates "with proper regard for their privacy and constitutional rights."

Last week, Crosscut reported on Zimbabwe and two other possible candidates: Air Force Maj. Gen. Mike Worden and Sound Transit Corridor Development Director Kamuron Gurol.

Before his current role at DDOT, Zimbabwe was the associate director of DDOT's Planning and Sustainability Division. He has a master’s degree in city planning and urban design from the University of California at Berkley, and a bachelor’s in urban and regional studies from Cornell University. He previously worked at Reconnecting America, a transit nonprofit

"No other city across the country has the type of trajectory and challenges facing Seattle right now," Zimbabwe said. "Seattle and SDOT face ... a range of different challenges. There's everything from delivering on the basics, the day to day work the agency does, to delivering these projects that will set the trajectory for the next 100 years."

Zimbabwe will take over one of the city's largest departments, with a $609 million budget in 2019, plus the $930 million Move Seattle levy account. He'll also inherit problems like the Center City Connector streetcar project that's currently on hold. He might even start his job just as the period of "maximum constraint" begins - that includes the closure of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the closure of the 3rd Avenue tunnel to buses, the convention center expansion, and scores of new buildings that will impact traffic.

Former deputy SDOT director Gorman Sparrman has been interim director since last December. Kubly now works for Lime.

The search for a new SDOT director has been carried out by a search committee co-chaired by Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce CEO Marilyn Strickland and Move Seattle Oversight Committee co-chair Betty Spieth-Croll.

The Seattle City Council still has to approve Zimbabwe before he can officially start.

Image courtesy DDOT