FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC – The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) today inducted four leaders in the transportation technology community into the ITS America Hall of Fame in recognition of an outstanding, lifelong career dedicated to organizational and thought leadership contributing to the vision of intelligent transportation systems. The Hall of Fame awards were presented at the ITS America Annual Meeting & Exposition which concluded this week in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C.
“Each new ITS America Hall of Fame inductee has served as a life-long champion of technology’s vital role in transportation, and personifies achievement in the ultimate standards of leadership in the ITS field,” said Scott Belcher, President and CEO of ITS America.
Hall of Fame inductees included James L. Oberstar of the United States House of Representatives, Gerald Conover with PRC Associates, Thomas D. Larson, Ph.D, from the Federal Highway Administration, and Robert G. MacLennan with the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority.
Former House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar served in Washington for a total of 18 terms and ended his career as the longest-serving Member of Congress in Minnesota history. In the 36 years he served in Congress, Chairman Oberstar worked tirelessly to pass legislation to improve the safety and efficiency of our national transportation network. As the Ranking Democrat of the full Transportation Committee, he worked in a bipartisan manner to take the Highway Trust Fund off budget to ensure that gas taxes are used to fix roads and bridges and not to make the budget deficit look smaller.
Gerald Conover, managing director of PRC Associates, specializes in ITS systems and service business and product analysis, product strategy and plans, and globalization. Conover was the first leader of Ford’s global intelligent transportation systems effort, creating and implementing strategies and plans to link Ford in the US with Ford’s many businesses in Europe – including Jaguar and Volvo – for lean, efficient and global ITS development and product implementation. Mr. Conover was Ford’s principal public spokesman on ITS matters.
Thomas D. Larson co-founded and was named the first director of the Pennsylvania Transportation and Safety Center at Penn State, known today as the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute. In its first year under his direction, the center doubled the number of participating University departments and increased its research expenditures from $48,000 to $700,000. Larson’s impetus at this time helped establish the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in 1970, formerly the Pennsylvania Department of Highways. In addition to serving as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Transportation, Larson was Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration where he led the preparation of the National Transportation Policy in 1990 and was actively involved in crafting the landmark Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.
Robert G. MacLennan, P.E, Served as Deputy Assistant Director of Public Works for the City of Houston, Senior Vice President of Bovay Engineers, Inc. and spent 23 years in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Under MacLennan’s leadership, the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority was a mass transit provider, but quickly moved to being an equal partner and in some cases a leader, in developing and implementing programs and projects benefitting general traffic, as well as public transportation.
About the Intelligent Transportation Society of America
The Intelligent Transportation Society of America represents more than 400 member organizations including public agencies, private corporations, and academic institutions involved in the research, development, and deployment of technologies that improve safety, increase mobility, strengthen the economy, and sustain the environment. http://www.itsa.org
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