Flowers to retire as Arkansas highway director
by June 1, 2011 5:48 pm 104 views
Editor’s note: Roby Brock, with our content partner Talk Business, wrote this report. He can be reached at [email protected]
After 43 years of roadside service, Arkansas’ highway director is driving off into the sunset.
Dan Flowers, director of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) during the past 17 years, told the Arkansas Highway Commission he would retire this year.
Flowers’ last day is Sept. 21.
“The Commission greatly appreciates Dan’s extraordinary contributions over the past 43 years, not only to this Department, but to the state of Arkansas, our region, and the national transportation industry," Highway Commission Chairman Madison Murphy said.
Flowers has served as director of the AHTD since 1994, longer than anyone in the department’s history. He is presently the longest serving CEO of any state transportation agency in the country, according to the AHTD.
The commission met in executive session earlier today and named a successor at the conclusion of its meeting. Scott Bennett, Assistant Chief Engineer for Planning, will replace Flowers after he leaves.
Bennett, 45, has a civil engineering degree from the University of Arkansas. He received his bachelor’s degree and went to work for the Highway Department full-time in 1989. He received a master’s degree in civil engineering in 1994 through the AHTD’s Transportation Research Assistantship Program, and he was named the university’s Mack-Blackwell Transportation Center Student of the Year in 1995.
Bennett has held numerous management positions at the AHTD, including Assistant Division Head and Division Head of two separate divisions – Planning & Research, and Programs & Contracts. He was named to his current position, Assistant Chief Engineer for Planning, in 2004.
“It is no accident that the Commission was able to move this swiftly in naming a new director. This department does an excellent job at recruiting, training, and maintaining quality personnel," said Murphy. "We have a very professional staff, and the commission expects this to be a seamless transition.”