Tom Hill, chief executive of Washington, D.C.-headquartered Oldcastle Materials Inc. and Paul A. Yarossi, president of HNTB Holdings Ltd. in New York City, have been named co-chairs of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s (ARTBA) “SAFETEA-LU Reauthorization Task Force.” The group is charged with developing the association’s legislative agenda for the next reauthorization of the nation’s federal highway transit investment programs due in 2009.
“Both Tom Hill and Paul Yarossi are distinguished transportation construction industry leaders and bring a wealth of experience to the table,” 2006 ARTBA Chairman Gene McCormick of Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas said in announcing their appointments. “Under their leadership, I’m confident the task force will develop reauthorization proposals reflecting the industry’s consensus position on highway and public transit financing, policy and regulatory issues.”
Since 2000, Hill has served as chief executive of Oldcastle Materials, a CRH plc company that is based in Dublin, Ireland. He was hired by CRH plc in 1980 upon completing the M.B.A. program at Trinity College in Dublin. Hill’s career at the company has included analyst positions at Amcor, in Ogden, Utah, and Oldcastle in Los Angeles. In 1986, Hill moved to Albany, N.Y., to begin acquisition work for Oldcastle until he was appointed president of the Oldcastle Materials Group in 1991. Oldcastle’s offices relocated to Washington, D.C. in 1993. Hill has a B.A. in economics and history from Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Hill, who served as 2002-2004 ARTBA chairman, has also held a variety of other leadership positions in the association, including senior vice chairman, first vice chairman, vice chairman at-large and president of the association’s Materials & Services Division. He currently serves as ARTBA treasurer and is a trustee on the ARTBA Transportation Development Foundation.
Yarossi joined HNTB in 1973 and has been involved in nearly every aspect of the firm, including leading major transportation projects. He serves as a member of the office of the chairman and on the HNTB Cos. board of directors. The HNTB Cos. is an employee-owned organization of infrastructure firms known and respected for their work in transportation, bridges, aviation, architecture and urban design and planning. Yarossi also is president of HNTB Holdings Ltd. and HNTB International Inc. He is a registered professional engineer in New York and holds a civil engineering degree from Manhattan College.
Yarossi is a 2006 ARTBA vice chairman at-large and is a key member of the association’s board of directors. He also co-chairs ARTBA’s Grassroots Strike Force, which includes nearly 30 national firms, and is aimed at expanding the industry’s network of grassroots activists.
The task force will report on its proceedings at the ARTBA 2006 Annual Meeting to be held Sept. 26-29 in San Diego, Calif.
In 1999, ARTBA initiated a similar member task force to develop the association’s legislative blueprint for the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). More than 100 ARTBA members participated in that policy process. ARTBA issued a 72-page report in May 2001 with the association’s policy proposals, which was distributed to all members of Congress, federal agencies and the White House.
Many of ARTBA’s transportation investment and financing, environmental and roadway construction zone safety recommendations were incorporated into SAFETEA-LU, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Aug. 10, 2005.
SAFETEA-LU provides total guaranteed funding of $286.5 billion over the period fiscal years 2004-2009—$227.6 billion for the federal-aid highway program; $52.6 billion for state and local transit programs; and $6.3 billion for the highway safety activities.
