WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told a new group of advisors that he wants to rely more on American investors to maintain and expand the country’s transportation infrastructure.
“What we see in a number of our projects is an opportunity for private capital,” Duffy said during the first meeting of the DOT Advisory Board, held at the White House on Wednesday.
“But it’s frustrating because there’s a lot of foreign private capital, and it seems like pretty good returns that they’re making on American infrastructure. It would be great if we could get [more] American private capital into American infrastructure and see those returns go to American investors.”
Duffy told the 12 board members that it’s also “important for our group to think about how we can innovate, how we can spend money more effectively and more efficiently.”
The board members were selected from dozens of nominees to help guide DOT’s approach to overhauling freight and passenger transportation systems and how they’re funded.
“This team will be essential to executing President Donald Trump’s bold agenda to build big, beautiful things again and I could not be more excited for what is to come,” Duffy remarked in a press release before the meeting.
The following advisory board members were appointed for two-year terms:
- Gregg Reuben (Chair), CEO, Centerpark.
- Steven Lefton (Executive Chair), president and CEO, Kimley-Horn.
- Peter Bartek, founder and CEO, FTS Rail.
- Michael Capasso, CEO, C.A.C. Industries.
- Stephen Dickson, former administrator, Federal Aviation Administration.
- Todd Ehmann, senior international captain, United Airlines.
- David Horner, partner, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
- Brigham McCown, chair and founder, Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure.
- Francis Sacr, principal, Lorne Infrastructure.
- Trent Morse, deputy assistant to the President.
- Mark Tedesco, CEO, Academy Bus.
- Robert Valentine, senior managing director, Macquarie Infrastructure Fund.
