2015 DOT Civil Rights Virtual Symposium Speaker Bios - Session 8

Speaking with One Voice: Connecting the DOTs

Session 8: Creating Ladders of Opportunity: U.S. DOT Efforts to Increase Access

Carlos Monje, Counselor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Transportation

Carlos Monje is Counselor to US. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. He works on the administration’s proposal to reauthorize surface transportation programs, on the TIGER discretionary grant program, and on efforts to promote equity and economic development. In August, 2014, President Obama announced his intent to nominate Monje as Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy.

Monje previously served as Special Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff of the White House Domestic Policy Council where he helped oversee all aspects of policy, message and event development across a wide spectrum of domestic policy issues. He previously served as senior policy advisor at the White House Domestic Policy Council, where he handled disaster recovery, veterans affairs, and national service issues. Monje served as deputy policy director at Obama for America and a special assistant in President Obama’s DC Senate office where he handled homeland security and veterans affairs.

Monje previously worked as a policy and press aide in the United States Senate and on a number of federal and statewide electoral campaigns. A graduate of Harvard University, Monje is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. He met his wife, Anne Filipic, while they both worked on the Obama campaign in 2008. Monje is the first in his family born in the
United States. His family is from Argentina.

Gregory Nadeau, Acting Administrator, Federal Highway Administration

On July 30, 2014, Gregory G. Nadeau became the Acting Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, where he’d served as the agency’s DeputyAdministrator since 2009. He has carried out all the duties of the Federal Highway Administrator since December 30, 2013, when Victor Mendez began serving as Acting Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Since 2009, Nadeau has focused significant attention on spearheading the development and administration of the Every Day Counts (EDC) initiative. EDC, FHWA’s signature initiative, is designed to address shortening project delivery time and accelerate the rapid deployment of innovative technology using a state based model. Partnering with FHWA teams across the nation on the implementation of EDC are state DOT and local partners, as well as stakeholders in the private and non-profit transportation sectors. EDC strategies and technologies provide state and local governments with innovative solutions that are saving time, saving money and saving lives. Nadeau has overseen FHWA’s work with state
DOTs to make widespread use of these innovations commonplace throughout the country. Nadeau has also played a critical role in developing regional summits and promoting the development of State Transportation Innovation Councils that bring together representatives throughout the highway transportation community to match new technologies with current and future transportation projects and make them standard practice.

Nadeau serves on the USDOT Freight Policy Council. The Council advises the Secretary on the development and implementation of MAP-21 freight policy provisions, including the National Freight Policy, advances the President’s National Export Initiative, and at the request of the Chair, makes recommendations to the Secretary regarding freight policy issues. Prior to joining FHWA, Nadeau served since 2003 as the Maine Department of Transportation's (MaineDOT) Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Planning and Communications. In this role, he was responsible for state and federal policy, statewide transportation system planning, communications, freight and business services, and passenger transportation. He also advocated for and lead efforts to approach transportation planning on a systems basis utilizing all modes, and minimizing impact on communities and the environment through integrated regional and community based planning.

Nadeau also served as Senior Policy Advisor to Governor Angus King from 1995 to 2002 and was responsible for a number of policy areas, including transportation, economic development, energy and utilities, environmental protection and labor. From 1978 to 1990, he represented the city of Lewiston in the Maine House of Representatives.

Stephanie Jones, Deputy Chief of Staff and Acting Director, Departmental Office of Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Transportation

Ms. Jones was sworn in as Deputy Chief of Staff for the U.S. Department of Transportation in January 2014. In this role, Stephanie serves as a senior adviser to Secretary Anthony Foxx and the Chief of Staff, and helps to manage a department with more than 55,000 employees and a $70 billion budget that oversees air, maritime and surface transportation.

Recently, Secretary Foxx designated Stephanie to serve as the Acting Director of the Departmental Office of Civil Rights (DOCR). Stephanie will continue to serve as the Deputy Chief of Staff, while she provides leadership to DOCR. Stephanie joined Secretary Foxx’s leadership team after several years as a small business owner. Her public affairs and strategic communications firm, Stephanie Jones Strategies, empowered non-profits and businesses to increase productivity and profitability by improving diversity, expanding communication and engaging with external strategic partners and communities.

Prior to launching SJS in 2010, Stephanie spent five years as Executive Director of the National Urban League Policy Institute, the Urban League’s research, policy and advocacy arm. She was also Editor-in-Chief of The State of Black America and Opportunity Journal magazine. From 2002 until 2005, Stephanie served as Chief Judiciary Committee Counsel to Senator John Edwards, advising him on judicial nominations, civil rights and liberties, homeland security, labor, and other issues. She worked closely with the Senator in the development of his anti-poverty, civil rights and urban agendas and was a senior adviser during his 2004 presidential and vice presidential campaigns. Prior to working for Senator
Edwards, Stephanie was Chief of Staff to the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

From 1994 until 2000, Stephanie served in the Clinton Administration as Secretary’s Regional Representative in the U.S. Department of Education, where she was the Administration’s education point person for a six-state region. During this time, she also extensively traveled with the President and First Lady, coordinating scores of events and domestic and foreign trips, including the President’s state visits to Africa, Europe, Asia, and The First Lady’s Save Our Treasures Tour and trips to Haiti, The Hague, and Poland.

Before entering government service, Stephanie was an Associate Professor of Law at Northern Kentucky University’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law, where she taught Civil Rights Law, Civil and Criminal Procedure, Entertainment Law, and Trial Advocacy. Stephanie has also served on the adjunct faculty of Northwestern University School of Law and practiced law with the firm Graydon, Head & Ritchey in Cincinnati. Prior to her legal career, Stephanie was a staff reporter at the Cincinnati Post and Executive Assistant to Lionel Richie and the Commodores.

Stephanie earned her B.A. from Smith College and her J.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where she was a Fellow in the Urban Morgan Institute of Human Rights. She also attended Tuskegee University. Stephanie’s work in diversity, public engagement and cross-cultural understanding has earned accolades in many sectors. Her study, Sunday Morning Apartheid: A Diversity Study of the Sunday Morning Talk Shows, which she conceived, conducted, and wrote, triggered a significant and measurable increase in the on-air racial diversity of network and cable news programming. Stephanie’s essays and commentary on public policy, civil rights, and social justice have been featured in The Washington Post, Salon, and other publications.