Jerry Ogburn, retired urban planner and designer, has been elected chairman of the Mount San Jacinto Winter Park Authority (MSJWPA), governing body of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Ogburn was appointed to the Authority by the Palm Springs City Council in 2006 and previously served as chair in 2009 and 2017.
For over four decades, Ogburn worked as an urban planner and designer in both the public and private sectors leading interdisciplinary teams of specialized consultants. Most recently, he served for five years as a senior designer for The Planning Center in Rancho Mirage, and then another five years for MSA Consulting, Inc., also in Rancho Mirage, as a senior planner. In January of 2017, he formally retired from the latter and continues to serve as a member of Desert Roundtable.
“As we approach the completion of the multi-year remodel of the Mountain Station in the coming months and the 60th anniversary of the Tramway in 2023, we look optimistically towards the future,” says Ogburn. “It is an honor to serve as the 2022 chair alongside my fellow board members and the truly extraordinary staff members of the Tramway and our restaurant operations.”
Ogburn succeeds 2021 Chair Bary Freet, a 2015 Riverside County MSJWPA appointee. Other officers elected for 2022 are Vice Chair Brian Conley, Secretary Jeff Ohlfs and Treasurer Sandra Magana-Cuellar.
The current Authority members are: Jerry Ogburn and Nancy Stuart appointed by the Palm Springs City Council; Bary Freet and Brian Nestande appointed by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors; and Brian Conley, Sandra Magana-Cuellar and Jeff Ohlfs appointed by the Governor.