The Spokane Transit Authority board of directors voted July 17 to confirm Karl Otterstrom as the agency’s next CEO.

Currently serving as STA’s interim co-CEO and chief planning and development officer, Otterstrom is expected to assume the new role in August pending a mutually signed, board-approved employment contract.

Otterstrom will succeed E. Susan Meyer, who retired in December after nearly two decades as the agency’s CEO.

“I look forward to working with the board, our employees, and the community in connecting everyone to opportunity and supporting our region's economy and residents with efficient, effective public transportation,” Otterstrom says in a press release.

Otterstrom, a Spokane native, has nearly 20 years of experience in public transportation, including over 15 years at STA. He joined STA in 2009 as director of planning and development.

STA provides public transportation services to the cities of Airway Heights, Cheney, Liberty Lake, Medical Lake, Millwood, Spokane, and Spokane Valley, and parts of the unincorporated County.

The organization employs nearly 775 people.

STA's bus ridership was nearly 10.2 million in 2024, up from about 8.9 million in 2023.