In 1999, John Horsley became Executive Director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), which advocates policies and provides technology leadership on behalf of States to improve the Nation’s transportation system.

Previously, Horsley was nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate as Associate Deputy Secretary of Transportation where he served from 1993 to 1999 as the Department’s advocate for intermodal policies, quality of life initiatives and as liaison to State and Local Governments, US Congress, and transportation constituencies.

A native of the Northwest, Horsley was elected to five terms as County Commissioner in Kitsap County, a community just west of Seattle. He is a graduate of Harvard, an Army veteran, a former Peace Corps volunteer and Congressional aide, and did graduate study at Georgetown. He is Past President of the National Association of Counties, and was founding Chairman of the Rebuild America Coalition.

He and his wife Deanna have been married for 26 years and have two children: Adam and Jennifer.

Friday, June 5th

10:15 am - 11:45 am

Administrator of the Maryland State Highway Administration since January 2003, Neil J. Pedersen is responsible for an agency that maintains and operates nearly 17,000 lane miles of roadway and 2,500 bridges; employs more than 3,200 professionals in a variety of disciplines; and is responsible for an annual budget of $1.7 billion. In that position, he also serves as the Governor’s Highway Safety Representative and Chair of the Maryland State Roads Commission. A registered professional engineer, he previously served for two and a half years as SHA’s Deputy Administrator/Chief Engineer for Planning and Engineering – a position that oversees all of the agency’s planning, design, environmental, and real estate functions. Prior to that, he was SHA’s Director of Planning and Preliminary Engineering for 16 years. Mr. Pedersen led SHA in the delivery of two mega projects: the $2.4 billion Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which is nearing completion, and the $2.4 billion Intercounty Connector, which has begun construction.

Mr. Pedersen believes in working with other transportation professionals to advance the practice of both engineering and public administration. His involvement with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials includes being Vice Chair of the Standing Committee on Highways, being a member of the Standing Committees on Research; and being on its Board of Advisors for the Center on Environmental Excellence. . He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Transportation Research Board and chairs the Executive Committee of the I-95 Corridor Coalition, a consortium of transportation organizations from sixteen states along the eastern seaboard. He also serves on the Board of Visitors of the University of Maryland’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Mr. Pedersen has received numerous awards for his service, including most recently the 2007 Thomas H. MacDonald Memorial award from AASHTO and the 2006 George S. Bartlett award, which is given by the Transportation Research Board, AASHTO and ARTBA.

A native of Massachusetts, Mr. Pedersen holds two undergraduate degrees from Bucknell University and a Master's degree in Civil Engineering from Northwestern University. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with his wife, Barbara.

Friday, June 5th

10:15 am - 11:45 am

Dr. T. Peter Ruane is the president and CEO of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), a 106-year old national federation of public and private transportation construction interests with over 5,000 members headquartered in Washington, D.C. He has over 35 years of diversified experience in the economic development, transportation and construction fields.

Prior to joining ARTBA in October 1988, he served for nine years as President/CEO of the National Moving and Storage Association (NMSA) an international trade association with members in over 50 countries and its affiliate organizations.

Dr. Ruane served as the deputy director of the Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA), Office of the Secretary of Defense and the President's Economic Adjustment Committee where he worked on complex economic development projects stemming from military base closures or growth impacts in more than 30 states over the period 1970 to 1980.

He received numerous awards as a member of the Senior Executive Service, including the top two government-wide management awards available to a young federal executive (Arthur Fleming and William A. Jump Foundation), and the Secretary of Defense’s Meritorious Civilian Service Medal.

Dr. Ruane is a graduate of Loyola College of Baltimore, and holds a master's degree from the Pennsylvania State University and a doctorate from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He also holds the professional designation Certified Association Executive (CAE).

He is a decorated Vietnam veteran, having served as an officer with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Dr. Ruane is a past chairman and current Director of the Small Business Legislative Council (SBLC), a permanent coalition of some 100 trade organizations representing the entire spectrum of U.S. business. He has held numerous volunteer and elective positions including six years as a Director of the school board at St. Mary's of Annapolis, four of which he served as President. He currently serves as Treasurer, as well as a World Executive Board member of the International Road Federation. He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Calvert Hall College High School (Baltimore) and a trustee of the Transportation Development Foundation. He is the Vice Chairman of the U.S. Chamber-led Americans for Transportation Mobility (ATM), a broad-based coalition focused on major national transportation legislation. He also co-chairs the Transportation Construction Coalition, a permanent thirty member market-oriented construction trade association and labor coalition working on industry legislative and regulatory issues. He is a frequent witness before Congress and guest on national news programs.

He is the first association executive to have been awarded the American Public Works Association Distinguished Service Award in 1999 and was voted one of Engineering News-Record magazine’s top newsmakers from throughout the world in 1998. Both of these awards were for his unique personal leadership in the passage of TEA-21, then the largest public works legislation in the history of the United States. In December 2000 he was appointed as the only construction industry trade association executive to serve on the Bush-Cheney Transportation Transition Team. In 2004 he was designated one of the Top 100 Private Sector Transportation Construction Professionals of the 20th Century and recently was named one of Public Works magazine’s 2005 “Trendsetters” for his leadership in helping to pass SAFETEA-LU.

Dr. Ruane was a member of the graduate school faculty at George Washington University for four years, and has been a guest lecturer at a number of universities including Oklahoma, Iowa, American and the National Defense University. He is a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the U.S. Marine Corps. Heritage Foundation.

He and his wife Pat reside in Davidsonville, Maryland and have four grown children (Jeanne, Tom, Katie and Colleen) and six grandchildren.

Friday, June 5th

10:15 am - 11:45 am

Richard B. (Dick) Burleson is Vice President of one of the largest engineering firms in the United States.

He is a native of Alabama and was inducted into the Alabama High School Sports Hall of Fame. Dick graduated from Georgia Tech with a Civil Engineering degree.

Besides his engineering career, Dick also rose to the Army Reserves highest rank, that of Major General. He graduated from the Army War College and was Commanding General of the largest Army Reserve Command in the World. His command covered eight states, 40,000 troops and included over 5,000 soldiers placed on active duty during Desert Storm. General Colin Powell personally decorated General Burleson’s units.

One of his highest personal honors came, when General Burleson received the Spirit of America's – Audie Murphy Patriotism Award. He was only the 23rd American to receive this award.

In addition to his engineering and military careers, Dick Burleson has been a football official in the Southeastern Conference for 25 years and worked a full schedule of top SEC games every year as head referee. Dick has served as Chief Referee and President of the SEC. He officiated fifteen major bowl games and the SEC Championship game.

His last game on the field was as the head referee for the National Championship Rose Bowl game.

He is now an SEC staff advisor on officiating and evaluates officials performance each Saturday from the press box and assists with instant replay.

Dick is a member of the National Speakers Association and is a highly requested speaker in the Southeast.

His just-released book “You Better Be Right” has reached the #1 Best Sellers list at Barnes & Noble Bookstores.

Friday, June 5th

8:30 am - 10:00 am

Mr. Heilmeier serves as an HNTB Vice President and Market Sector Leader for Public Private Partnership opportunities throughout the Southeastern United States. Tim has over 18 years of experience related to surface transportation – particularly policy and the planning and design of complex interstate, toll road and managed lane facilities. He has specific experience in innovative project delivery including both Public-Private Partnerships (P3) and design-build. Tim currently serves as the project director and adviser for the GDOT Public-Private Initiatives (PPI) program as well technical and procurement adviser to NCTA for the Mid-Currituck Bridge – North Carolina’s first P3. Tim’s experience includes private sector proposal reviews and negotiations, policy support, feasibility studies and P3 project development. Tim is well versed in various forms of innovative project delivery including P3, design-build and design-build-finance.

Tim is a 1991 graduate of the University of Florida. He is based in Atlanta where he resides with his wife Helen.

Friday, June 5th

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Todd Long is a native of Hinesville, Georgia. He studied at the Georgia Institute of Technology and earned a Bachelors of Science Degree in Civil Engineering with honors in 1989. He worked as a graduate assistant while earning his Masters of Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1990. He earned the certification of Professional Engineer in 1994 and his certification as a Professional Traffic Operations Engineer in 2002.

Todd began his career with the Georgia Department of Transportation on their extensive training program in 1990. He then served in the Office of Planning at the DOT Headquarters in Atlanta. In 1996, Todd moved to Gainesville as the District One Traffic Engineer. He later served as District Preconstruction Engineer, Assistant District Engineer and then District Engineer. In 2005, Todd moved back to DOT headquarters and served as Director of Administration and Director of Preconstruction where he overseas the delivery of the Department’s multi-billion dollar construction work program.

In August of 2008, Todd became the Director of Business Operations for the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. In this position, he oversees all of the engineering and information technology activities for the organization.

He is an active member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers where he has served as President of the Georgia Section in 2004. Todd is also a member of the TIME Task Force Board of Directors where he helps to direct the region’s incident management programs. Todd and his wife Kelli are the proud parents of three boys and one daughter and currently reside in Lilburn, Georgia.

Friday, June 5th

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm