Keolis North America (Keolis) announced the appointment of Rahul Kumar as its new Executive VP of Market Development and Innovation. He will draw from his more than 18 years of experience to lead Keolis’ efforts in building smart, sustainable mobility solutions including: the modernization of transit systems; the development of new modes of transportation, such as microtransit, autonomous on-demand shuttles; and the introduction of new digital solutions.

Kumar has successfully designed and managed complex bus networks and deployed new modes such as bus rapid transit and innovative transit business models. Since 2011, he has worked in the U.S., Europe and Asia designing and implementing emerging mobility innovations such as autonomous vehicles in France and leading Mobility as a Service initiatives in Helsinki and Manchester, UK.

Kumar most recently comes from Ford Smart Mobility by way of an acquisition of transit software startup TransLoc, and supported Ford’s initiatives in multiple cities. Kumar also served as the first Chairman of the Board of Mobility as a Service Global (MaaS), a startup in Finland using digitally enabled solutions to revolutionize mobility.