Newsom Names New CTO for High-Speed Rail

The agency overseeing the rollout of California’s high-speed rail project has a new technology chief in Las Vegas-based Joshua Hurlbert.

Hurlbert comes to the California High-Speed Rail Authority from an IT leadership role with another rail-centric organization, Brightline West Trains, where he served as the director of IT since 2023.

The Brightline name might be familiar because it is leading the effort to connect Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga with a 218-mile high-speed rail line.

Before joining Brightline, Hurlbert was the IT director for Front Gate Tickets/Ticketmaster between 2017 and 2023, a senior IT associate at Texas A&M University between 2014 and 2017, and an IT field engineer for Tan Mar Communications between 2013 and 2014.

He also served in the U.S. Army in tactical communications between 2005 and 2013, where he earned numerous honors and awards.

His appointment does not require Senate confirmation.