(New York, NY) The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ron Thaniel as Executive Director.

Mr. Thaniel has more than a decade of transportation and urban policy experience including most recently as Assistant Executive Director with the United States Conference of Mayors in Washington, DC where he directed advocacy for federal investments in transportation infrastructure in cities, and for policies that reverse decades of underinvestment in urban roads, bridges, and transit systems.

In addition to the United States Conference of Mayors, Mr. Thaniel has held a number of significant and influential positions during his career including Director of Government Affairs and Communications with Amtrak, where he represented the railroad on transportation and economic development projects of national significance, including the Moynihan Station Project in New York City and the New York-New Jersey Trans-Hudson Rail Tunnel.  Mr. Thaniel also served as Transportation, Public Works, and Public Safety Policy Aide to former Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, where he represented the Mayor on issues of transit-oriented development for the region’s first light rail corridor.

“NACTO is fortunate to have been able to recruit Ron Thaniel to serve as its Executive Director.  He has a genuine commitment to cities, and will help us advance NACTO’s vision for a federal transportation policy that works for America’s largest cities,” said New York City Transportation Commissioner NACTO President Janette Sadik-Khan. “Large cities around the country are struggling to fund critical projects to increase safety and mobility for a growing population. Ron has lived these issues in Minneapolis and during years of federal advocacy, and will bring a strong voice for cities to the pending surface transportation bill.”

“Given long-term federal spending constraints, the nation must prioritize transportation investments in cities – home to two-thirds of our country’s population,” said Thaniel. “They are the drivers of the 21st-century United States economy.”

NACTO encourages the exchange of transportation ideas, insights, and practices among large United States cities while fostering a cooperative approach to key national transportation issues.