Maria Mehranian to Speak on California High Speed Rail

GLENDALE – Building sustainable transportation infrastructure in California, “ The California High Speed Rail” is the topic of the lecture hosted by the Armenian Engineers and Scientists of America (AESA). The guest speaker is Maria Mehranian, who will provide an update of the current status of the California High Speed Rail, a statewide rail transportation system consisting of 700 miles of rail tracks connecting Sacramento to San Diego with a speed of approximately two hundred and ten miles per hour and a travel time of approximately two hours with an initial estimated cost at 53 billion dollars.

The discussion will also include the design, construction, and measures adopted to safeguard air and water quality during the construction and operations of the system. It will cover the financing mechanisms and prioritization of alignments in the initial Operating Segment and the Blended Approach. The lecture will be held on Thursday, October 23, 2014, at 7:30 pm at the Armenian Society of Los Angeles – Library, 117 South Louise Street, Glendale, California 91205. The lecture is free and open to the public .

Maria Mehranian i s the Managing Partner and Chief Financial Officer for Cordoba Corporation – a premier civil engineering and construction management consulting firm based in Los Angeles. For over 25 years, she has dedicated her career to buil d Cordoba into one of the top engineering consulting firms in the nation. As the Managing Partner and Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Mehranian manages and reviews a wide variety of company programs and directives.

Prior to serving as the Managing Partner and Chief Fina ncial Officer, she managed the company’s successful urban and transportation planning division. Ms. Mehranian’s portfolio includes a number of landmark projects that have shaped California’s current infrastructure.

As an urban planner, she played a key role in the development of the downtown strategic plan, a blue print for development in downtown Los Angeles that planned for housing in the area. This plan was strategically used to preserve and protect the industrial zones in downtown and convert existing unused office spaces to attract 100,000 residential units to the downtown. For her commitment and accomplishments in public service, Ms. Mehranian was appointed by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008 to serve on the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Board. She currently serves as Chairperson of the Board after being reappointed to her seat by Governor Jerry Brown.
Ms. Mehranian has also been heavily involved within the Armenian community by serving as Chairperson of the Armenia Fund between 2004 and 2008. During those four years, the fund raised a record $83.2 million. She was also instrumental in organizing a California Delegation to visit Armenia that resulted in the signing of an unprecedented MOU between the State of California and Armenia to open a trade office in Yerevan.

Ms. Mehranian received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from the American College in Tehran in 1980 and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1986 with a Master Degree in Urban Planning. In 2008, Ms. Mehranian was awarded the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor for her vast accomplishments to her community as an Armenian immigrant.

“AESA is proud and happy to have Ms. Mehranian a highly accomplished and a successful senior executive as our guest speaker, as part of AESA lecture series” said AESA President Vasken Yardemian. “Ms. Mehranian will share her extensive knowledge on the California’s future bullet train project, which would be America’s fastest high – speed rail system.”

Established in 1983 in Glendale, California, AESA is a non-partisan and non-sectarian philanthropic organization focused primarily on addressing the professional, technical and scientific needs of fellow Armenian engineers, scientists, industrialists, and architects throughout the world. For more information, check AESA’s website at www.aesa.org, or contact them by phone (818) 547-3372, or e-mail: contact@aesa.org.