Gabe Klein

Gabe Klein (born February 14, 1971) was Commissioner of the Department of Transportation for the City of Chicago from May 16, 2011 to 2013. He was appointed to this position by Mayor Rahm Emanuel when he took office on May 16, 2011.

Early Years

Born in Hartford, Connecticut. Before high school he spent ages 10–11 studying under Swami Satchidananda at the Yogaville Vidyalayam interfaith school in Buckingham, Virginia. He attended high school at Gabe Klein is a graduate Virginia Tech in 1994 and holds a degree in Marketing Management.

Private Sector Career

Gabe Klein’s career began working as Director of Stores for Bikes USA. Bikes USA was the nation’s largest bike retailer in (YEAR). Klein had Director-level roles at ProfessionaLink, a national technology-consulting start-up based in Washington D.C. where he led marketing and business development efforts for Fortune 1000 Companies. At the end of 2002, Klein became regional Vice President for Zipcar, overseeing the car sharing system in the D.C. region (2002-2006).

In 2006, Gabe left Zipcar and co-founded On The Fly, an electric vehicle vending company. On the Fly was one of the first multi-unit and multi-channel street vending companies in the U.S. with brick and mortar stores and mobile catering operations. On The Fly custom built electric trucks were able to work on the street, or sidewalk, serving local, fresh, natural foods to the DC area. Gabe turned the company over to his partners when Mayor Adrian Fenty asked him to lead DDOT. Gabe Klein served 12 years in the private sector before moving to the public sector.

Public Sector Career

Washington, D.C.

Gabe was unanimously elected as Director of the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT), appointed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in December, 2008 and serving until the end of Fenty’s term Dec 31st of 2010.

Chicago

Gabe joined Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration in Chicago on May 16, 2011 as the Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation.

Under his administration, Gabe Klein oversaw the following new and on-going projects and initiatives:

• BRT Chicago – Bus rapid transit
• Make Way for People
• Divvy – Chicago’s Bike Share System
• Chicago Traffic Tracker
• Bloomingdale Trail
• CREATE Program
• Chicago Bicycle Ambassadors
• Safe Routes to School
• Wacker Drive Reconstruction
• Union Station Master Plan
• Wells Bridge Reconstruction
• All-Way Pedestrian Crossing
• Open311
• Addison Underbridge Connection of the North Riverfront Trail
• Chicago Riverwalk
• Navy Pier Flyover

Gabe Klein oversaw the publication of the following documents  :

• Chicago Forward Action Agenda,
• Chicago Pedestrian Plan,
• Streets for Cycling 2020,
• Chicago Complete Streets Design Guidelines,
• Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Guidelines