Metro’s chief information officer retired abruptly last month, the first top executive to leave the agency since Metro’s new chief executive officer became the agency’s permanent leader. Suzanne Peck had previously been chief technology officer for the District before joining Metro in 2007. A key fundraiser for Vincent Gray, and later transition team adviser, she was apparently considered for a top appointment when he won the mayoral election. But the Metro announcement noting her departure did not list any future plans.
Peck did not return a call for comment Friday afternoon. Her retirement was first reported by The Washington Times.
The brief memo issued to Metro staffers, dated Feb. 22, said her last day was Feb. 25.
“Everyone was kind of surprised,” said Metro board member Jeff McKay, who chairs the board’s technology review committee that oversaw her work on information technology. He learned of the departure on Feb. 24 and noted it was unusual for so little notice to be given. He said, though, he did not know why she left.
“There were some issues clearly that she had with the inspector general,” he said. “I had some questions about the amount of money we were spending on IT and what we were getting.”
An inspector general audit from September, for example, said the agency did not have an adequate backup technology plan in case of an emergency.
Metro also had run into some problems with its SmarTrip system and fare technology this year when the agency enacted its largest fare increases in July. The agency even had to push back several portions of the increases — including some MetroAccess fare changes made as recently as last week until the issues could be resolved.
“It just seems like we’ve been spending a lot of money and not a lot things have been coming to closure,” McKay said. “There’s no lack of resources being applied to IT.”
He called the job a critical one, saying it makes everything function at the agency.
Former Metro board member and D.C. Councilman Jim Graham said he was disappointed that Peck was leaving Metro. He said he had been a “huge advocate” for bringing her to the transit agency from the city as she “took D.C. from rotary phones to the Internet.”
“I think wherever she goes, people will benefit from having her,” he said.
But McKay said the departure could mean good things for Metro as new CEO Richard Sarles reshapes the agency.
Robert Kramer, the agency’s chief of applications development who helped shepherd in the NextBus GPS arrival system for buses, is now serving as acting assistant general manager and chief information officer, according to Metro.
