Executive Moves: AASHTO, NYK and AAPA

AASHTO’s board elects the association’s new president, VP and secretary-treasurer; NYK’s corporate officer resigns to serve as senior managing director at Ocean Network Express Japan Ltd.; and AAPA installs three new chairpersons.    The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO) board of directors elected Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner John Schroer as the association’s president. Schroer was appointed commissioner of Tennessee’s DOT in January 2011, and prior to that, he was mayor of his hometown of Franklin, Tenn. At AASHTO, he has served as chairman of the association’s Standing Committee on Finance and Administration, and chair of the association’s Strategic Management Committee.
   AASHTO’s board also elected Carlos Braceras P.E., executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation, as the association’s vice president. Braceras previously served as AASHTO’s secretary-treasurer. He began his career at the Utah Department of Transportation in 1986 and was named executive director in May 2013.
   In addition, the board elected Scott Bennett, P.E., director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation, as secretary-treasurer. Bennett started working at the Arkansas Department of Transportation as a summer employee in 1985, began working full time for the department in 1989, and was named director in September 2011.

   Nippon Yusen Kabushiki (NYK) Corporate Officer Takuji Nakai has resigned from his position to serve as senior managing director at Ocean Network Express Japan Ltd., a company arising from the integration of the container shipping businesses of Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. (“K” Line) Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. (MOL) and NYK.

   The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) selected Sarah Garza to serve as chair of its environment committee. Garza is director of environmental planning and compliance for the Port of Corpus Christi. Before joining the Texas port as its environmental compliance manager in 2002, she worked as a scientist for Environmental Resources Management, and as a project manager for Applied Earth Sciences, both in Corpus Christi.
   AAPA also appointed Bill Crowe to serve as chair of its facilities engineering committee. Crowe is senior director of facilities, construction and engineering for the Canaveral Port Authority.
   In addition, AAPA named Martyn Adamson chair of its information technology committee. Adamson is senior manager of enterprise applications for the Port of Tacoma. Adamson was hired by the port in 2003 as its IT technical services manager, and was later promoted to IT director before becoming the port’s enterprise applications senior manager.