Jim Wild is the Executive Director of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the St. Louis region, which represents the 2.7 million residents of the city of St. Louis and the surrounding seven counties in Illinois and Missouri.
Wild oversees the 29-member East-West Gateway Board of Directors, which includes the mayor of St. Louis and leaders of each of the seven member counties. East West Gateway is the only entity in the region that enables the region’s leaders to convene monthly to collaboratively foster a robust, resilient, healthy and economically flourishing region that best serves all its citizens.
Wild started at East-West Gateway in 1993 as a transportation analyst and held a variety of positions before his appointment as executive director in 2015. In his 31 years at East-West Gateway, his primary responsibilities have included overseeing the council’s freight intelligent transportation systems, bicycle/pedestrian, paratransit, and transportation safety programs, as well as development and implementation of $19 billion in funding through the region’s ongoing Regional Long Range Transportation Plan and $4.2 billion through the region’s ongoing Transportation Improvement Program. Under his leadership, East-West Gateway undertakes transportation initiatives that enhance roadway safety, drive economic development, and enhance transportation mobility, functionality, equity, inclusivity, and regional growth.
Under Wild’s direction, East-West Gateway further focuses on regional community planning. Initiatives focused on sustainability, air and water quality compliance, hazard mitigation, and a variety of local government services, including research initiatives, local government professional training, and community engagement. East-West Gateway further coordinates planning and response for large-scale critical incidents through its St. Louis Area Regional Response System (STARRS).
Under direction of East-West Gateway’s Board of Directors, Wild recently expanded the vision and scope of East-West Gateway to incubate two regional initiatives to reduce street violence and homelessness through collaborative approaches that span diverse public and private sectors.
In 2024, EWG and its many stakeholders, began work on Save Lives Now!, an anti-violence plan to reduce homicides and shootings by 20% in a three year period. Wild further convened regional stakeholders and a steering committee to incubate Housing First STL, a collaborative regional initiative to significantly reduce homelessness through a new system based on a housing first approach.
Wild also serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO).
