Justin Erbacci was appointed Chief Innovation and Technology Officer (CITO) and Deputy Executive Director in July 2016. He is responsible for implementing LAWA’s overall Information Technology vision and strategy, in addition to leveraging innovative technologies and processes to enhance operations at Los Angeles International (LAX) and Van Nuys general aviation airports.

In January 2018, Justin’s role at LAWA expanded to Chief Innovation and Commercial Strategy Officer (CICSO) and Deputy Executive Director to sponsor and lead the Terminal Development and Improvement Program. In addition, this expanded role includes working closely with airline partners as well as shaping commercial and business strategies with the goal of improving the guest experience.

Mr. Erbacci brings over 15 years of experience in global IT leadership from inside and outside of the aviation industry. Prior to his appointment with LAWA, he served as Vice President of Customer Experience & Technology for Star Alliance, a global airline network comprised of 28 airlines serving 640 million passengers annually. In this role, he was responsible for the development, implementation, architecting, operations, and maintenance of all global IT applications and infrastructure components, and led all Star Alliance product and service activities at the over 1,300 airports where its airlines operated. Additionally, Mr. Erbacci has served as the Director of Global Product Management for Credit Suisse, and as a Manager of Business Planning and Technology at United Airlines.

Mr. Erbacci has also served as a senior IT consultant for firms including Reese McMahon LLC, Cambridge Management Consultants, and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Prior to consulting, he practiced law as a civil rights defense litigator.

Mr. Erbacci earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the Vienna School of Economics/Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, and a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola University of Chicago’s School of Law. He also earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Loyola University of Chicago.

Tham Nguyen is a Senior Manager, Transportation Planning focused on delivering a living and breathing Metro Strategic Plan. Tham first joined OEI as a Metro Fellow, having worked on transit corridor planning, active transportation funding, complete streets initiatives, and the development of Metro’s Active Transportation Strategic Plan.

In his role as Director of Entertainment & Digital Media Industry Cluster Development, Chris fosters the growth of businesses and jobs in the entertainment and digital media industry cluster throughout LA County by developing strategies and bringing together stakeholders, to help remove obstacles to growth, while helping our region take advantage of emerging opportunities.

Chris is also Director of Innovation for the LAEDC, championing technology and new concepts that are creating economic opportunity for the region. As part of this work, Chris manages the annual Innovate LA event and related year-round initiatives, including vision and strategy, external communications, marketing and social media for InnovateLA. More about InnovateLA at this LINK.

Chris has extensive experience creating, producing and executing projects. Chris honed his creative skills during a successful career in film and television development and production in Hollywood. Chris’s film and television experiences, along with his passion for social change, led him to the political arena where he worked with Arianna Huffington as a state organizer, Moveon.org as a lead organizer, and as campaign director for a ballot initiative to promote water conservation and sustainability. Recently, Chris consulted for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on ActivateED, a campaign of leading education organizations to positively impact student achievement. Most recently, Chris worked with Bright Funds to attract more philanthropic donors, and overseeing an open source digital voting project for the OSET Foundation. Chris’s campaign experience and innovative approach to digital and social media have precipitated exponential growth in visibility for every project he leads. Chris is a graduate of Duke University, where he designed his own major focusing on 20th C. Western European International Affairs. He is also a licensed special needs educator in California.

DAWN M. COMER has more than 15 years of experience in business strategy, solution development, and marketing and communications for consumer product, technology and media and entertainment companies. Most recently, Dawn worked to create digital business solutions to improve her client’s brand performance and differentiate their consumer experience. She also spent two decades at IBM, and worked in consulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Dawn earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University and an MBA from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.