[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15598-15599]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO JEFFREY F. PANIATI

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to an outstanding 
civil servant and constituent, Jeffrey F. Paniati, executive director 
of the Federal Highway Administration, FHWA, who is retiring after 32 
years of Federal service.
  Jeff Paniati received his master of science degree in civil 
engineering from the University of Maryland. He joined FHWA in 1983 as 
a highway engineer trainee and rose through the ranks to join the 
Senior Executive Service in 2000 and eventually became executive 
director in April 2008. The executive director, the number three 
official in FHWA, is the only civil service position in the agency that 
requires the approval of the President. As executive director, Jeff 
assists the Federal Highway Administrator and Deputy Administrator in 
establishing policies, programs, and priorities for the $40 billion 
annual Federal aid highway program. As FHWA's chief operating officer, 
he oversees a workforce of approximately 2,900 transportation 
professionals and an annual operating budget of $400 million.
  One of the biggest challenges Jeff faced came just months after he 
became executive director. The economic collapse in the fall of 2008 
brought the country into the worst recession since the Great Depression 
of the 1930s. On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American 
Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ARRA, into law. ARRA, also known as the 
stimulus act, authorized $26.6 billion for road and bridge projects 
that would create construction jobs to help the economy recover while 
providing transportation facilities to make our communities safer, 
greener, more livable, less congested, and economically stronger. This 
funding was in addition to the regular $40 billion a year Federal aid 
highway program.
  At the time, Jeff was the highest ranking FHWA official because the 
President had not yet nominated a new Federal Highway Administrator or 
Deputy Administrator. It fell to Jeff, serving as acting Deputy 
Administrator, to ensure the agency was able to absorb the additional 
funds, deploy them to State and local officials for shovel-ready 
projects, ensure proper oversight of record numbers of projects, and 
help deliver the jobs the country so desperately needed. The result was 
more than 13,000 highway and bridge projects across the country that 
put tens of thousands of people to work, in addition to the thousands 
of projects and jobs resulting from regular program funds. All of this 
was accomplished within ARRA's deadlines, without any increase in staff 
by FHWA

[[Page 15599]]

but with the full cooperation of State and local transportation 
officials under the familiar Federal-State partnership of the Federal 
aid highway program.
  President Obama remarked that there has never been a program of this 
scale, moving at this speed, enacted as effectively, and meeting such 
high standards of transparency and accountability. The stimulus 
provided by implementation of the Recovery Act paved the foundation for 
the economic growth that has continued to this day. Many people deserve 
credit for this outstanding accomplishment, including FHWA employees 
around the country, especially Jeff Paniati.
  Throughout Jeff's earlier career in FHWA, he accumulated a diverse 
range of experience in helping to make America's transportation systems 
work safely and efficiently. He served as chief of the safety design 
division, a research office helping to advance the state of the art in 
highway safety. As program manager for Intelligent Transportation 
Systems, ITS, he led the more than $100 million annual Federal ITS 
program. He directed day-to-day operations of the ITS Joint Program 
Office, which focuses on bringing advanced communication and 
information system technologies to the management and operation of our 
Nation's surface transportation system. At the time of his appointment 
as executive director, he was FHWA's associate administrator for 
operations; in this capacity, he provided national leadership in system 
management and operations, ITS deployment, and freight management. 
Throughout Jeff's career, he has worked closely with the Transportation 
Research Board, the American Association of State Highway and 
Transportation Officials, and ITS America--to name just a few of FHWA's 
many partners and stakeholders.
  Jeff's extensive experience throughout the agency gave him the 
background to move FHWA forward. He oversaw the successful 
implementation of the many program changes required under the Moving 
Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, MAP-21, in 2012. Perhaps 
the most significant change was that MAP-21 shifted FHWA to risk-based 
stewardship and oversight that redefined FHWA's role in working with 
its State and local partners. It also gave FHWA the leadership role in 
transitioning with its partners to a transportation performance 
management focus that emphasizes a strategic approach by using data to 
make investment and policy decisions to achieve national performance 
goals. These dramatic changes in operation of the Federal aid highway 
program required extensive outreach, which Jeff coordinated, to explain 
the shifts to FHWA's partners and gain their support for them.
  Jeff played a leadership role in advancing U.S. interests and 
bolstering international cooperation under the auspices of the World 
Road Association, where he served as U.S. first delegate and chair of 
the strategic planning commission. He led an international team in 
overseeing the work of the association's 15 technical committees and 
the development of its next strategic plan. He also facilitated efforts 
to advance special reports on the importance of road maintenance and 
helped produce a climate change adaptation framework. Jeff's 
involvement in the association enabled the U.S. to further enhance our 
international leadership and expertise in the design, delivery, and 
operation of highway and road networks.
  Closer to home, Jeff never forgot the importance of giving all FHWA 
employees the opportunity to advance in their careers. He listened to 
employee feedback, administered a strategic workforce assessment, 
established a formal mentoring program, developed the leadership for 
innovation decisionmaking program and expanded the Leadership 
Development Academy, and instilled in leadership ranks throughout the 
FHWA the value of expanding opportunity. Initiatives of this type are 
valuable to employees and their families, but are also critical to 
ensuring the FHWA can meet the challenges of the future by helping the 
agency to recruit and retain the best public servants our Nation has to 
offer. Through these and other initiatives, Jeff helped make FHWA 
successful not only in accomplishing its vitally important mission, but 
in making the agency a better place to work. Among agencies of its 
size, FHWA has ranked in the top 10 best places to work in the Federal 
Government among agency subcomponents for the past 3 years. Under 
Jeff's leadership, FHWA moved from No. 33 in 2009 to No. 5 in 2013, an 
impressive achievement in a short period of time.
  Jeff will be retiring this month after 32 years of Federal service to 
become president and chief executive officer of the Institute of 
Transportation Engineers. After his long career and especially his 7\1/
2\ years as executive director, Jeff leaves FHWA a better place, which 
is good for America. I am proud to represent Jeff and so many other 
Federal workers. I believe our Federal workforce is the best in the 
world. We are fortunate to have dedicated, talented, creative, hard-
working, and patriotic public servants like Jeff. I ask my colleagues 
to join me in thanking Jeff for serving the American public with such 
distinction and devotion and wishing him much success as he leaves 
Federal service. We also need to thank his wife, Kim, and his children 
Chris and Lauren for supporting him in his public career.

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