Dr. Cris B. Liban, P.E. is the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (LA Metro) Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). Cris oversees LA Metro’s internationally recognized Environmental, Sustainability, and Energy initiatives. He prides himself to be one of the handful of engineers who holds this very important position. As CSO, Cris' responsibilities are also unique as he sets the environmental, sustainability, and resiliency vision for the agency while oversees the implementation of programs to fulfill that vision. His group has been one of the profit centers in LA Metro, generating over $100M of revenue in the last three years through monetized environmental benefits and reinvesting those into sustainable infrastructure.
Cris is currently a Commissioner in the City of Los Angeles Board of Transportation Commissioners (appointed by LA City Mayor Eric Garcetti); as well as the Vice-Chair of the Los Angeles County Beach Commission (appointed by LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl). He previously held political appointed positions in the State of California as a member of the Climate Safe Infrastructure Working Group, and as an adviser to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (USEPA) Administrator (Obama and Trump Administrations) as a Council Member of the USEPA National Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT). He recently got appointed by CA State Treasurer Fiona Ma to sit on the Green Bonds Development Committee and develop Green Bonds Standards for the State of California.
Dr. Liban is currently the American Society of Civil Engineers National Committee on Sustainability Chair. In that capacity, he is overseeing the development of an international standard for sustainable infrastructure, a manual of practice for the incorporation of climate science into engineering practice, a manual of practice for green procurement.
Dr. Liban has also been the Chair or Member of multiple National Academies of Sciences Transportation Research Board research projects that continues to tackle emerging and timely topics on social equity and climate, climate change impacts, greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategies, life-cycle and cost framework, and sustainable transport funding and financing.
Cris is the recipient of the 2020 Engineering News Record (ENR) Award of Excellence (AOE) for his work on environmental science, climate change, and environmental equity (https://www.enr.com/enr-award-of-excellence). In 2016, he was the recipient of the 2016 Pamana ng Pilipino Award from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. This is the Philippines' Highest Civilian Honor for Filipinos living overseas.
He has degrees in geology (magna cum laude), civil and environmental engineering, and environmental science and engineering.