Mayor Eric Garcetti has announced that Bureau of Street Lighting Director Ed Ebrahimian, and Bureau of Street Services Director Nazario Sauceda are both retiring after decades of service to the Department of Public Works.

Ebrahimian and Sauceda will leave their posts in the coming months, after a combined 61 years of service and an extraordinary record of achievements.

Ebrahimian, who served 31 years with the city, implemented the world’s largest LED street light conversion program, which has received recognition from the C40 network of cities fighting climate change and the U.S. Department of Energy. Ebrahimian has also helped pioneer the use of street lights as host locations for smart city applications, such as telecom infrastructure and EV charging.

Sauceda, who served the city for 30 years, halted the 40-year decline in city-wide road quality and raised the city’s Pavement Condition Index – an effort that won the prestigious Sorenson Award for Excellence in Pavement Preservation in 2015. He also helped make the city more sustainable by expanding the use of cool pavement, and incorporating the use of recycled, environmentally friendly materials into street maintenance.

“Ed and Nazario are true public servants and their passion and dedication have made Los Angeles more efficient and sustainable, and helped us improve some of our most important services to Angelenos,” Garcetti said. “I wish them well, and look forward to building on their success as the city continues to find new opportunities to fix our streets and modernize our infrastructure.”

When Ebrahimian steps down at the end of 2017, 28-year Bureau of Street Lighting veteran Norma Isahakian will become acting director. She will be the first woman in city history to lead the bureau.

Sauceda will stay on into the new year to assist with a nationwide search for a new Bureau of Street Services director, led by executive search firm Ralph Andersen & Associates. Once appointed, the new head of bureau will take a lead role in the city’s street and sidewalk reconstruction and repair program.

That effort will be backed by billions of dollars in new transportation funding generated by Measure M and SB 1, which have put the city in a position to fund and execute transportation and mobility improvement projects on an unprecedented scale, Garcetti said.