By Lookout Staff

December 4, 2014 -- Juan Matute, a well-known champion of public transportation, has been appointed to the Board of Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (DTSM), the agency that runs the City’s central business District.

Two current board members, Vice Chair Johannes van Tilburg, a local architect, and Secretary Treasurer Rob Rader, a media attorney, were reappointed to the Board by the Santa Monica City Council.

The board will continue to serve through “the principles of economic stability, growth, and community life,” Downtown officials said in a statement announcing the appointments released Wednesday.

Matute, who is Associate Director at the UCLA Lewis Center and the Institute of Transportation Studies, will join the Board as Downtown prepares for the scheduled arrival of the Expo light rail line in early 2016 that will connect the bayside city to Downtown Los Angeles.

Matute also lectures for the CLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability and UCLA Department of Urban Planning and is the Program Manager for the UCLA Local Climate Change Initiative. Matute also serves on the board for Southern California Streets Initiative.

His areas of expertise focus on “providing solutions for challenges relating to transportation, economic development, housing, and the environment,” Downtown officials said.

Van Tillburg is president of Van Tilburg, Barnvard and Soderbergh Architects, AIA (VTBS, Inc.) and is a nationally recognized pioneer in mixed-use urban design, land planning and the creation of livable communities, which includes the designs for Third Street Promenade.

A native of the Netherlands, van Tilburg is a graduate of the College of Arts and Architecture in The Hague. He immigrated to the United States in 1965 and founded his architecture firm in 1992.  He is a member of the College of Fellows at the American Institute of Architects.

This is his third term as Vice-Chair for DTSM’s Board of Directors.

Returning for a third term as Secretary Treasurer for the Board, Rader is an expert general counsel and is experience in business affairs for major media companies, retailers and law firms.

He currently serves as general counsel for Ovation, LCC, where his experience spans the areas of “legal, business, and operational aspects of digital and traditional media,” as well as retail and consumer issues.

He has previously spent nine years as Vice Presidentat MGM, Inc. and seven years at major law firms Mitchell, Silberburg & Knupp and Morrison & Foerster before joining a digital media and entertainment firm as a name partner.