Seventeen emerging leaders in the transportation design and construction industry participated in an intensive Washington, D.C., “boot camp” introduction to the federal legislative and regulatory processes, and then went to Capitol Hill to urge their members of Congress to find a permanent revenue fix for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) and to fully fund the FAST Act for FY 2018.
They were in the Nation’s Capital May 16-18 as part of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association Transportation Development Foundation’s (ARTBA-TDF) “Industry Leader Development Program” (ILDP), an annual event held in conjunction with the association’s Federal Issues Program and the Transportation Construction Coalition Fly-In.
There have been nearly 700 graduates from over 200 industry firms in the program since it began in 1996 as the Young Executive Development Program.
The ILDP provides participants with a solid understanding of industry economics, how transportation work in the U.S. is funded and financed, how actions by the federal government impact the industry, and how they – and their company or agency – can become politically engaged. Attendees also heard from House Highways & Transit Subcommittee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) at a dinner event, where he talked about the need to provide a permanent HTF solution and shared his views about federal aviation policy.
The 2017 ILDP class included:
- Robert Alger, Jr., business development manager, Lane Construction Corporation, Chantilly, Va.
- Richard Ames, senior project manager, AECOM, Conshohocken, Pa.
- Luis Barragan, director of transportation, N.Y., Gannett Fleming, New York.
- Sofia Berger, senior vice president, U.S. transportation market, Louis Berger, New York.
- Matt Blake, lead construction estimator, Parsons, Westminster, Colo.
- Rick Both, vice president, Parsons, Sumner, Wash.
- Erin Coates, bridge engineer, CH2M, Santa Ana, Calif.
- Nick DiBartolo, general manager, Rogers Group, Inc., Columbia, Tenn.
- Jason Fischer, P.E., project manager, Great Lakes Construction Co., Hinckley, Ohio
- Dan Holley, marketing manager, 3M, St. Paul, Minn.
- David Leber, project manager, Wagman Heavy Civil, York, Pa.
- Johnny Limbaugh, director of business development & government relations, Wright Construction Group, Fort Myers, Fla.
- Timothy Miller, civil engineer, AECOM, Chelmsford, Mass.
- Matthew Mullally, project manager, AECOM, Chelmsford, Mass.
- Madhu Narayanasamy, project manager, CDM Smith, Houston, Texas
- Kevin Oberheim, project manager, Rummel, Klepper & Kahl, LLP, Baltimore.
- Jeffrey Saunders, estimator/performance manager, Thomson-Arthur Division of APAC-Atlantic, Greensboro, N.C.