DOT APPOINTS WRIGHT TO FHWA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The U.S. Transportation Department’s Federal Highway Administration has appointed Frederick G. (Bud) Wright, Jr. executive director.
Wright succeeds Anthony R. Kane, who retired from the agency earlier in 2001.
Prior to this appointment, Wright served as the program manager for safety since April 2000, directing a staff that provides national leadership and advocacy for the development and implementation of strategies and programs to reduce highway crashes. Before that, Wright was director of DOT’s Office of Budget and Finance, where he worked extensively on the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21).
From 1990 to 1992, Wright served as a special assistant to FHWA’s executive director, working on the development of legislative provisions and negotiations with Congress that led to the landmark Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. In 1992, he was appointed division administrator in Nevada, the agency’s first non-engineer to hold such a position.
Wright started his career with DOT in 1975 as an economist in the Office of Planning.