Executive who spearheaded Brightline to step down

By: Debora Lima, South Florida Business Journal

Michael Reininger, who helped spearhead development of the Brightline passenger train, will resign from his post as executive director of parent company Florida East Coast Industries (FECI), the Business Journal has learned.

Reininger, a former Disney executive, joined Brightline in 2012 to develop the $3 billion system that will eventually link two of the Sunshine State's largest commerce hubs, South Florida and Orlando. When the South Florida portion of Brightline was nearly complete last year, he was promoted to executive director of FECI, a conglomerate that develops real estate, builds infrastructure and owns Brightline.

Sources said Reininger plans to leave when the Miami Brightline station opens, most likely in April.

“This was always the plan,” a source said. “Mike is a developer, not an operator,” he added, referencing Reininger's background developing real estate projects for the Walt Disney Company, among other multinational corporations…