January-February 2007, Vol. 73, No. 1

Career Moves

Elliott moves to new HR position

Emily Elliott will assume new duties as the Central Office human resources manager.

Elliott has held her present position as assistant Human Resources Division administrator for statewide services since 2004. In that job she had oversight for policy and administration of programs for employee relations, benefits, classification and compensation programs. She began her VDOT career in 1993 with a position in the agency’s equal opportunity program. In 1998, she moved into human resources program development, focusing on alternative compensation programs.

She has a bachelor’s degree in business and marketing from Christopher Newport University and a master’s degree in education and human development from George Washington University. She is a certified human resources professional.

Gales is internal audit director

Bradley Gales has accepted the position of internal audit director, succeeding Alex Sabo who retired.

Gales had been acting in the director’s position since last June. Before that, Gales was the internal audit maintenance manager. He also worked in the Construction Section and the Administration and Finance sections in internal audit. Before joining VDOT, Gales worked for the State Corporation Commission for more than 15 years.

Gales is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University in accounting and an accredited financial examiner.

Glass named Louisa RA

James S. “Jamie” Glass Jr. is the new residency administrator for Louisa Residency. He steps into his new role with an extensive knowledge of Louisa operations, especially in the area of planning and managing maintenance programs.

Having joined Cuckoo Area Headquarters in the residency in 1977, Glass has had progressively more responsible experience as area headquarters superintendent, residency maintenance manager, and since May 2005, as assistant residency administrator. Since last July, he has overseen day-to-day operations at the residency.

Hammond is Lexington RA

Susan Hammond has been named residency administrator for the Lexington Residency. She comes to her new post from Salem Residency where she was assistant residency administrator.

Hammond moved up through the ranks of VDOT, working as a bridge inspector and then a permit and subdivision specialist in Lexington Residency. While at the residency, she attended Old Dominion University, earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. She also participated in the VDOT engineer training program.

She moved from Lexington Residency to Harrisonburg Residency to become assistant resident engineer. Then she served as assistant residency administrator in Salem Residency, where she played a lead role in the early implementation of the Southwestern Regional Operations organization.

Huckabee-Mayfield takes Ashland post

Jorg Huckabee-Mayfield, Fredericksburg residency administrator since 2005, will become administrator at the Ashland Residency. She has begun a transition period to Ashland, which she expects to complete in the next two months.

Before her assignment in Fredericksburg, Huckabee-Mayfield was in Northern Virginia District where she had responsibility for land development reviews for Prince William and Fairfax counties. She had earlier experience there planning for the current Woodrow Wilson Bridge project.

Long named controller

Janice S. Long has been named VDOT controller, and in that position she will lead the management of the department’s accounting operations and financial controls. A veteran financial manager for the agency, Long will continue to direct capital assets and inventory control as she has for the past two years.

Since joining the department in 1984, Long has served as a senior internal auditor, automated data processing internal auditor, internal audit manager, senior internal audit manager, and director of capital assets and inventory control. She began her career as a staff accountant for Coopers and Lybrand.

While at VDOT, Long directed implementation of financial controls over VDOT’s capital assets and inventory, led an audit of VDOT’s financial management system and oversaw an inventory cost analysis for the agency. Long is a graduate in accounting from the University of Virginia and a certified public accountant and certified internal auditor.

Mannell is assistant administrator

Robert B. “Ben” Mannell was recently promoted to assistant division administrator in the Transportation and Mobility Planning Division. In his new role, Mannell manages the division’s Planning Systems, Policy and Business Management sections. He is responsible for oversight of personnel, scope development, scheduling, and budgeting for each of these programs.

Before his promotion, Mannell served as statewide planning manager for three years, managing the 20-year Highway Needs Assessment, State Highway Plan, VDOT’s contributions to the Statewide Multimodal Plan, and coordination of the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.

Mannell also has had experience with the metropolitan transportation planning processes in the Harrisonburg, Winchester, and Fredericksburg areas. He received both his Bachelor of City Planning and Master of Planning degrees from the University of Virginia.

Odom promoted in operations planning

Dawn V. Odom was recently promoted to an assistant division administrator in the Operations Planning Division. Her responsibilities will include oversight of financial management and budgeting of highway maintenance and operations funds, including the federal program.

Odom worked in the Operations Planning Division for the past year developing strategy for obligating maintenance and operations federal funds. Before that she was employed by the Henrico County Department of Public Works where she was responsible for developing the operating budget and the five-year capital improvement plan for roadway and drainage.

Odom first worked for VDOT beginning in 1989 as an administrative trainee in the Culpeper District and the Maintenance Division. Then she served as an accountant for the Chesterfield County Health Department for two years. From 1993-2005, she was employed by Henrico County spending some time as an analyst in the budget office. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Mary Washington.

Smith heads Amelia Residency

Billy S. Smith, acting residency administrator in Amelia since last May, has been named administrator there.

Smith has spent his entire 28-year VDOT career in Amelia residency, and he says he “loves the rural community and the good citizens of Lunenburg, Nottoway and Amelia.”

He began work in Victoria Area Headquarters as an hourly equipment operator and continued his experience and advancement there as a “fill-in mechanic,” equipment operator, “back-up” time keeper, foreman and superintendent. In 1997, he was promoted to maintenance operations manager at the Amelia Residency. He was named assistant residency administrator there in 2002.

Sumpter takes Charlottesville post

Allan Sumpter returns to Culpeper District, where he began his engineering career, to be residency administrator in Charlottesville. He began work in the district almost 20 years ago as an engineer trainee.

After working in Culpeper District, Sumpter was named assistant resident engineer in the Lebanon Residency, and he became resident engineer there in 1996. In 2000, he left that post to become project manager for Virginia Maintenance Services (VMS). His duties included managing the contract for VDOT’s interstate maintenance program in Southwest Virginia while providing support for projects in other states, particularly in Texas.

His experience with VMS and with VDOT gives him expertise that will be valuable as outsourcing of interstate maintenance continues and expands to include I-64 in his residency. He succeeds Jim Utterback who is now VDOT project management officer in the Central Office.

Walus leads Bridge Division

Kendal “Ken” Walus, P.E., is the new state structure and bridge engineer, replacing George Clendenin who retired.

Walus was promoted from the position of assistant state location and design engineer. He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Virginia Military Institute, a master’s in engineering from the University of Virginia and a master’s in business administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Earlier, Walus held the positions of assistant structure and bridge engineer and transportation engineer senior in the Structure and Bridge Division. He also worked in the private sector as an engineer for a number of consulting firms, including American Engineers, Griener and Moffatt and Nichol Engineers.

Wells is inspector general

Wanda Wells, who has been acting inspector general for VDOT since July 2005, has been named inspector general effective Feb. 15.

A certified public accountant, Wells has been the Investigation Division administrator since 2001, with responsibility for coordinating internal and external investigations and special management requests relating to the agency. Earlier she was an assistant division administrator with the Internal Audit Division. She is a 21-year VDOT veteran.

Before joining VDOT, Wells worked for the state auditor of public accounts. She is a graduate of James Madison University with a double major in accounting and finance.

Also making career moves …

Maxwell Carpenter: from regional operations assistant maintenance manager to the transportation operations manager for the Warrenton Residency.

Jackie Christian: from an hourly position to electronic technician II for regional operations, Staunton District Office.

Lonnie G. Clatterbuck: from transportation operator II, Culpeper District, to same position in the Luray Residency.

Crystal Hale: adds a new responsibility, as district technology resource manager, to her present job as district asset and inventory manager in Culpeper District.

Harry Kenyon: from public information specialist with the city of Chesapeake to public affairs manager, Hampton Roads District.

Sean Nelson: from associate engineer in the Materials Division to pavement design engineer with the Culpeper District Materials Section.

Michael Saunders: from a construction manager in Salem District to an area construction engineer for Richmond District.

Professional Notes …

Bristol District’s Dennis Harris, P.E., location and design manager, Gene Holly, architect engineer I, Allen Moore, engineering tech III, Garry Lovins, Bridge Section manager, and Sam Latham, architect-engineer I, have received the Project Management Professional certification.

Michael C. Brown, Ph.D., P.E., research scientist and Smart Road program manager at the Virginia Transportation Research Council, will be recognized in April as one of three 2007 outstanding young alumni by the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, where he received three degrees.

James Bullins and Brian Combs, engineering technicians III, Bristol District, have earned their licensed surveyor certification.

Joan Spangler, human resources analyst I, Fredericksburg District, has earned the national designation of “professional in human resources” awarded by the Society for Human Resources Management.

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