Victor Mendez was the

Deputy Secretary of Transportation The deputy secretary of transportation advises and assists the secretary of transportation in the supervision and direction of the Department of Transportation (DOT). The deputy secretary would succeed the secretary in his or her absence, sicknes ...

from 2014 to 2017 and was previously sworn in on July 24, 2009, as Administrator of the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

(FHWA), the 18th person to hold this position. Mendez was previously Director of the

Arizona Department of Transportation The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT, pronounced "A-Dot") is an Arizona state government agency charged with facilitating mobility within the state. In addition to managing the state's state highways, highway system, the agency is also i ...

(ADOT), beginning in November 2001. Mendez started at ADOT in 1985 as a transportation engineer. He was later named deputy state engineer with ADOT's Valley Transportation Group, where he provided leadership for the Phoenix area's multibillion-dollar freeway system. He worked his way up the agency, becoming deputy director in 1999 and acting director four months before his appointment as Director. In 2006, Mendez was elected president of both the Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test quality control, protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway design and construction through ...

(AASHTO), its national counterpart. He chaired its Standing Committee on Research, the Operations Council of the Standing Committee on Highways, and the oversight group for the

Transportation Research Board The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is a division of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, formerly the National Research Council of the United States, which serves as an independent adviser to the President of the Unite ...

Long-Term Pavement Performance program. As Administrator of the

, Mendez encouraged the adoption of innovations in highways and supported international cooperation. In 2011, he signed the first Memorandum of Cooperation with the

Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories FEHRL, the Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories was created in 1989 as an international organisation. In 2000, it became an ''association international sans but lucratif'' (AiSBL) or International association without lucrative pu ...

. Mendez earned a civil engineering degree from the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

and an MBA from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. Before joining ADOT, Mendez worked for the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

as an engineer in Oregon.

Deputy Secretary of Transportation

On May 15, 2014, President

Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

submitted his nomination to the Senate.Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate May 15, 2014
/ref> On July 24, 2014, Mendez was confirmed by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

as the

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez, Victor Administrators of the Federal Highway Administration Living people Obama administration personnel State cabinet secretaries of Arizona United States Deputy Secretaries of Transportation University of Texas at El Paso alumni W. P. Carey School of Business alumni Year of birth missing (living people)