Federal Highway Administrator Mary Peters recently announced Frederick "Bud" Wright, Jr. will serve as the agency's executive director. Wright succeeds Anthony Kane, who retired earlier this year.
"Bud brings more than two decades of extensive and varied experience with FHWA to this pivotal leadership position," said Peters. "He has an outstanding record in providing leadership in key areas such as transportation policy and legislation, budget and financial oversight. I look forward to working with Bud to meet our agency's critical highway transportation goals."
Wright has 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 continuously reduce the number and severity of highway crashes. Before that, Wright was director of the Office of Budget and Finance, where he worked extensively on the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21).
Wright began his career in 1975 as an economist in the Office of Planning. In 1986, he was selected for a congressional fellowship, serving with the Senate Appropriations Committee staff. In 1989-90, he was a member of the National Transportation Policy Team, which developed former Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner's National Transportation Policy.
From 1990 to 1992, he 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, Wright was appointed division administrator in Nevada, the agency's first non-engineer to hold such a position.
Wright has received the Secretary of Transportation's Special Achievement Award, the Federal Highway Administrator's Superior Achievement Award and the Secretary of Transportation's Team Award.
