Former New York state Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald will be appointed to a post on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, the White House announced in late August.
McDonald will be tasked with providing the administration with advice on security matters about the country’s key infrastructure sectors.
McDonald served as New York’s DOT chief from March 2011 to July 2015. Before that, she was commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. She also served as senior vice president for transportation for New York City’s Economic Development Corp., and was director of capital and long-range planning for Metro-North Railroad.
Throughout her tenure at the state DOT, McDonald advocated for a robust federal role in highway funding. At this year’s Transportation Research Board annual meeting in January, she urged members of Congress to raise taxes on fuels to pay for big-ticket infrastructure.
“If you’re going to expend the political capital, make sure you get the dollar capital back,” she said, during a panel with other state transportation leaders.
McDonald earned a Bachelor of Arts from LeMoyne College and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University.
The National Infrastructure Advisory Council is made up of 30 members from the private sector, academia, and local and state governments.
