"Starting in 1999, Ralph is the guy who herded all the cats that made this happen," says Jeff Sackett of Trammell Crow, Bechtel's partner in CascadeStation Development CO., the joint venture that in trade for $28.2 million toward construction of the 5.5-mile light rail gained development rights for 120 acres of Port-owned land along the route.

Indeed, says various public officials, Ralph directed the creation of some 85 agreements between Bechtel Enterprises, Inc., Trammell Crow Company, the Port of Portland, the Tri-Country Metropolitan Transit District of Oregon, and the City of Portland to both build a light rail extension linking downtown Portland with the city's airport, and to construct a commercial development project near the airport. The proposal is believed to be the first public-private partnership of its kind in the country to use a cost-sharing approach with the private sector to fund a public light rail and mixed-use real estate project.

Bechtel's Ed Hern said Stanley's job was to develop business that provides Bechtel with engineering and construction contracts, and he saw that opportunity in Portland's airport light rail project. "He recognized the need and the desire," says Hern. "And in the process of bringing all the public and private parties together to accelerate its development, he won the engineering and construction contract for the light rail project as well as the development rights to CascadeStation."