advertisement

---

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has named Frederick "Bud" Wright executive director.

AASHTO's board approved the appointment of Wright to succeed John Horsley, who plans to retire on Feb. 1. Horsley has served as executive director since 1999.

A transportation consultant based in Alexandria, Va., Wright recently worked on a project examining approaches to performance-based management of the federal-aid highway program.

He served as executive director of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) from 2001 to 2008. From 2001 to 2002, he was the FHWA's program manager for safety and prior to that, he was director of the Office of Budget and Finance, where he worked on the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. Wright began his career in 1975 as an economist in the FHWA's Office of Planning.

"Bud Wright has almost four decades of experience in both the private sector and as a top executive at the Federal Highway Administration," said AASHTO President Kirk Steudle in a prepared statement. "Wright's proven leadership in critical areas such as transportation safety, policy and legislation, budget and financial oversight will be extremely beneficial to AASHTO as it works with our membership and lawmakers to shape the next surface transportation authorization bill."