Mukilteo Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

Washington State Ferries had a new leader.

Patty Rubstello will serve as the new assistant secretary of WSF, replacing Amy Scarton, who is now WSDOT's deputy secretary.

Rubstello, who lives in Woodinville, created and led the Office of Urban Mobility & Access, which brings together tolling, regional transit coordination, and the management of mobility divisions to enhance operational and planning coordination in the greater Puget Sound area.

With 30 years at WSDOT, Rubstello has experience in design, construction, planning and traffic operations, and in 2015 served as the agency's assistant secretary for Tolling.

Scarton was appointed to the helm of WSF in 2017 and is credited with the completion of the first long-range plan in more than a decade. Working to reduce transportation emissions, she initiated a program to electrify the state ferry fleet and convert some of the largest ferries to hybrid power.

Scarton also shepherded the first new ferry terminal to open in 40 years at Mukilteo.

Secretary of Transportation Roger Millar has announced the appointments of several key positions in his agency's executive leadership team. The upcoming retirement of the Washington State Department of Transportation's second in command, Deputy Secretary Keith Metcalf, set these changes in motion.