AASHTO Journal, 8 May 2015
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts named Kyle Schneweis, a partner at High Street Consulting Group and a former senior official at the Kansas Department of Transportation, to become the new director of the state Department of Roads effective June 8.
Schneweis will replace Randall Peters, who retired as director May 1 after a 38-year career at NDOR, where he was also state engineer. Peters had been appointed the department CEO by former Gov. Dave Heineman in July 2012.
Ricketts also designated Moe Jamshidi, the NDOR deputy director for operations, to serve as the department’s acting director until the new CEO is aboard.
Schneweis joined High Street in 2010, where his biography says he has “assisted dozens of clients as they seek to better align their strategic goals with the technical needs of the transportation systems they manage.”
PetersThe announcement from Ricketts’ office said High Street’s clients include more than a dozen state transportation departments, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
Before joining the consulting group, Schneweis held various planning and strategic positions at the Kansas DOT, including chief of governmental affairs. His other roles there from 1999 to 2010 included travel forecast engineer, metropolitan planning organization administration engineer, system enhancement program manager and long-range planning manager.
Ricketts said Schneweis “brings experience from his time at the Kansas DOT and his work as a strategic consultant that will focus our department on forward-thinking initiatives. His leadership will help our department think creatively about how our state finances roads, works with regulators, constructs roads, and plans for the future.”
The governor’s office said that as chief of government affairs at the KDOT, Schneweis was chief adviser and support staff to the KDOT secretary during a series of organizational and cultural changes.
Those included improving the resource allocation and project selection processes, setting targets for the transportation system and agency staff, creating a “practical design approach that right-sized projects to save resources and improve efficiencies,” plus developing and winning eventual legislative approval for a multi-year transportation investment program.
Schneweis said that as the next NDOR director, “I look forward to working with Gov. Ricketts to ensure that the department utilizes taxpayer dollars wisely while building the infrastructure the state needs in a 21st Century economy.”