Mayor Nils Ušakovs appointed Peters, who is the son of popular poet Jānis Peters, to head the department in July 2013, promoting him from his advisor’s position held there since 2011.
Prior to his service at Riga’s municipal transport agencies he was chairman of the board at Riga International Airport (RIX), as well as Minister of Transport and a member of Saeima.
Born in 1975, Peters ran for the 7th Saeima on the Jaunā partija list unsuccessfully. Later he took up the seat of Ainars Šlesers while he served as Economics Minister, however lost the mandate when Šlesers returned to mere parliamentarian’s status in 1999.
He then ran in 2002 for the 8th Saeima on the Pirmā partija list and served as an elected member until 2006 when he became Transport Minister in the growth-happy government of Aigars Kalvītis.
He was again unsuccessful in reaching the Saeima that year on the joint list of the Pirmā partija and Latvijas ceļš, however was appointed to the board of the state agency overseeing electronic broadcast frequencies, the Radio and Television Center, as well as board chair seat at RIX and board member status at national aviation carrier airBaltic.
He was a candidate to the 12th Saeima on the Harmony list, but was not elected to the current parliament now beginning its work.
