AASHTO Makes Committee Leadership Appointments
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has appointed three new chairs for three of its committees and a vice chair for the Council on Aviation.
Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, will serves as chair of AASHTO’s Committee on Transportation Communications – known as TransComm – for a two-year term.
Confirmed as New Jersey DOT commissioner in June 2018, Gutierrez-Scaccetti has publicly advocated for the need to increase transportation revenues to meet infrastructure needs – both before Congress and at industry forums.
A native of New Jersey, Gutierrez-Scaccetti is a transportation professional with more than 30 years in the industry. Prior to becoming commissioner of the New Jersey DOT, she served as the executive director and CEO of Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, a part of the Florida Department of Transportation. She also spent 21 years at the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.
William “Bill” Panos, director of the North Dakota Department of Transportation, will serve as chair of AASHTO’s Agency Administration Managing Committee for a two-year term.
Panos became director of the North Dakota DOT in October 2019 after serving as the director of the Wyoming Department of Transportation from 2015 to 2019 and as director of the Wyoming Department of School Facilities from 2013 to 2015. Prior to that, he served for six years as director for the City and Port of West Sacramento, California, and as construction executive for the state of Washington for five years.
Omer Osman, acting secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation, will serve as co-chair of the Joint AASHTO- American Road & Transportation Builders Association-Associated General Contractors of America Committee.
Appointed to lead Illinois DOT in March 2019, he previously served as deputy secretary for the office of project implementation and director of highways among other roles during his nearly three-decade career with the Illinois DOT.
Finally, Anthony McCloskey, director of the Bureau of Aviation for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, will serve as vice chair of AASHTO’s Council on Aviation for a two-year term.
At PennDOT, McCloskey is responsible for overseeing all aviation-related programs within Pennsylvania including the state block grant program, safety/licensing, aviation awareness, project management, and flight services.
