Obama fills DOT, Census posts

Obama fills DOT, Census posts    The White House announced Friday that President Barack Obama intends to nominate Victor M. Mendez to head the Federal Highway Administration and Peter H. Appel as administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, both within the Department of Transportation.
   Obama has also selected Robert M. Groves as director of the Census Bureau, which includes the Foreign Trade Division that is responsible for collecting trade statistics. Groves is director of the University of Michigan Survey Research Center and served in the early 1990s as an associate director of Census.
   Mendez has been director of the Arizona Department of Transportation since 2001. He served under Gov. Janet Napolitano, who now heads the Department of Homeland Security. During his tenure he accelerated the schedule for the Valley regional freeway system in Phoenix, advancing its completion by seven years. As deputy director, he helped complete the first design-build project in the state, an $80 million widening of Interstate 17, and launched the agency's largest project to date, widening the Superstition Freeway.
   According to his biography, Mendez has been an innovator in transportation funding, financing, research and operations. He has served as a past president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
   He served on the Obama transition team for transportation.
   Arizona's Department of Transportation was also the launching pad for Mary Peters to become Federal Highway Administrator during the Bush administration. She eventually left and returned to become secretary of transportation for the final two years of the Bush presidency.
   Appel is a principal with the global management consulting firm of A.T. Kearney Inc., specializing in transportation and infrastructure.    He has done work for companies in the railroad, trucking, airline and ocean shipping industries involving growth strategy, supply chain improvement, post-merger integration, public-private partnerships, and other key business and policy issues. Previously, Appel served as the special assistant to the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and as assistant director for pricing and yield management at Amtrak.   
   The Senate must confirm all three nominees.