BOULDER - Will Toor, a Boulder County commissioner from 2004 to 2012, has been named transportation program director at the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project.

The Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, or SWEEP, is based in Boulder and promotes energy efficiency in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

Toor replaces Bob Yuhnke, who retired from the position in December.

"Clean and efficient modes of transportation are key issues that directly affect quality of life in Colorado and the Southwest," said Howard Geller, executive director of SWEEP. "We are pleased that Will brings a collaborative leadership style and deep experience in the transportation sector to SWEEP's work on these issues."

As a Boulder County commissioner and mayor of Boulder from 1998 to 2004, Toor represented both the city of Boulder and Boulder County on the Denver Regional Council of Governments, or DRCOG, from 1998 to 2012, and served as chairman in 2005. In his role at DRCOG, he successfully advocated for significant shifts in funding toward transit and bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure.

He led DRCOG to adopt sustainability principles that include goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled in the long-range regional land use and transportation plans.

Toor was appointed by former Gov. Bill Ritter to serve on the Colorado Transportation Funding and Implementation blue ribbon panel, the Governor's Climate Action Panel  and the Regional Air Quality Council.

In addition, Toor was a founding member of the U.S. 36 Mayors' and Commissioners' Coalition and played a key role in developing regional consensus supporting bus rapid transit - and no additional general-purpose lanes - on the major artery linking Boulder and Denver. He worked with multiple state and federal agencies to secure $500 million for this project, which now is under construction.

He has written two books and multiple book chapters on transportation policy.

During his service as a Boulder councilman and mayor, Toor worked to develop the Hop, Skip and Jump network of high-frequency bus routes, the EcoPass program and policies for denser, urban infill development as opposed to sprawl.

He was director of the Environmental Center at the University of Colorado-Boulder from 1992 to 2004.