California High-Speed Rail Authority names interim CEO after Choudri quits

The California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has appointed Joe Stephenshaw, current director of the California Department of Finance, as interim CEO after Ian Choudri resigned on Nov. 4, citing "important personal and family priorities" in an email resignation obtained by CalMatters.

The leadership change lands on an authority under strain from several directions. Choudri held the top job since 2024, a tenure marked by lawsuits and federal funding losses. The authority missed required deadlines to purchase trainsets and subsequently forfeited $4 billion in federal funds. Its contract authority was also tightened after a California Office of the Inspector General report found that the authority "improperly paid unallowable travel expenses for contracted consultants" totaling nearly $600,000.

The watchdog's findings were specific. The report states the authority "did not comply with state regulations requiring it to evaluate the business need for consultants to travel before approving travel." For nearly 60% of the payments reviewed, the authority had not approved the travel before it occurred, a pattern the report says shows "little to no upfront consideration of the need for or cost of the travel."

What does the governance change mean in practice?

Earlier in the month, the board voted to restrict the authority's contract authority. The measure requires the authority's in-house counsel to sign off first on any contracts under $25 million. The CHSRA Board has also outlined corrective actions and new policies intended to provide clearer rules and prevent future misuse of funds.

Stephenshaw arrives with a budget and infrastructure background rather than a rail operations resume. Before leading the Department of Finance, he served in California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office as a senior counselor on Infrastructure and Fiscal Affairs. He was staff director for the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee from 2017 to 2022, and he held multiple positions in the California Legislature from 2008 to 2017, including:

• policy consultant in the Office of the Senate President pro Tempore;
• special advisor to the speaker of the assembly;
• budget consultant for both the Assembly Budget Committee and the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee.

His academic credentials include a bachelor's degree in business administration from Menlo College and a Master of Business Administration from California State University, Sacramento.

For a body that just had its spending controls tightened by its own board, a finance-director profile is a coherent choice. Whether it stabilizes the authority's relationships with federal funders and state overseers will depend on execution, not biography.

A leadership change amid project milestones

The resignation comes just after the authority signed a contract with Siemens for the initial three trainsets for the high-speed rail project, with options to expand the agreement as need grows. That purchase addresses the trainset procurement whose missed deadlines contributed to the forfeited federal money.

In a separate action, the board approved the environmental document for the Los Angeles to Anaheim section. That decision marks completion of the final project section environmental clearance for the full 494-mile Phase 1 system between San Francisco and Los Angeles/Anaheim.

The contrast is stark. On paper, the programme has just cleared two long-standing hurdles — rolling stock on order and a fully environmentally cleared 494-mile corridor — while simultaneously losing its chief executive and operating under tightened contract controls following a watchdog finding.

What does this change for the project itself? In the short term, likely little: an interim appointment preserves continuity while the board searches for a permanent leader. The Siemens contract stands, the environmental clearance stands, and the corrective-action policies are already board-approved. The open question is whether the next permanent CEO can rebuild the credibility with federal and state overseers that the past year's funding forfeitures and compliance findings have eroded.

Stephenshaw's first tasks are visible in the inspector general's report: implement the corrective actions, enforce the new travel and contract rules, and demonstrate that the $25 million counsel-review threshold works as intended. The interim period ahead will show whether fiscal discipline and delivery milestones can advance together.