U.S. Secretary of Transportation Appoints Nossaman Partner to Serve on Infrastructure Financing Commission
LOS ANGELES (June 26, 2007) - Today, Nossaman announced that U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters has appointed partner Geoffrey S. Yarema to the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission (the "Financing Commission"). Mr. Yarema, together with other distinguished industry experts (please see list attached), will serve on the newly formed federal advisory committee Congress created as part of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users ("SAFETEA-LU"). Meetings of the 15 member Financing Commission are open to the public and the next meeting is scheduled for July 16, 2007.
"The Commission is comprised of a remarkable group of industry leaders with tremendous potential for consensus building and creating real policy solutions," said Geoff Yarema, Chair of Nossaman's Infrastructure Practice. "I am honored to be among their number. We have an important job to do, however. Current resources are demonstrably inadequate to maintain the condition of, and improve mobility on, our existing transportation network. I welcome the comments, suggestions and insights of the public to help us in our mission."
Congress charged the Financing Commission with: analyzing the needs for future capital improvements to the country's highways and transit systems; determining the value of revenue sources currently supporting the Highway Trust Fund; and making recommendations to supplement available funding and meet further national infrastructure needs. Congress has directed the Financing Commission to complete work no later that April 2009 and to forward its policy recommendations to the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of the Treasury and the U.S. Congress.
About Nossaman:
Nossaman Guthner Knox & Elliott LLP is a California-based national law firm specializing in infrastructure, complex business litigation, land use, environmental, real property, water, healthcare, corporate transactions and public policy law. Founded in 1946, Nossaman has more than 130 attorneys and other professionals located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and Orange County, as well as in Washington, D.C./Virginia, Austin, Texas and Seattle, Washington.
The firm's 25 lawyer Infrastructure Practice is one of the broadest and deepest of its kind in the country and many of its members are called upon to advise Congress, governors, legislators, state transportation commissions, municipal planning organizations and regional transportation agencies on permitting, contracting, procuring and financing the most important infrastructure projects in the country.
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Industry Contact: Geoffrey S. Yarema, (213) 612-7800
National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission Members
| Full Name: | Dr. Robert D. Atkinson, Ph.D. |
| Job Title: | President |
| Organization: | Information Technology and Innovation Foundation |
| Full Name: | Mr. Don Carmody |
| Job Title: | President |
| Organization: | Henry County Bank |
| Full Name: | Mr. Jeffrey Crowe |
| Job Title: | Chairman |
| Organization: | Landstar System, Inc. |
| Full Name: | Mr. Mark Florian |
| Job Title: | Managing Director |
| Organization: | Goldman Sachs |
| Full Name: | Mr. Bryan Grote |
| Job Title: | Principal |
| Organization: | Mercator Advisors, LLC |
| Full Name: | The Honorable Bill Kennedy |
| Job Title: | Yellowstone County Commissioner |
| Organization: |
| Full Name: | The Honorable Mike Krusee |
| Job Title: | R-District 52 |
| Organization: | Texas House of Representatives |
| Full Name: | Mr. Craig Lentzsch |
| Job Title: | Chairman and CEO |
| Organization: | Coach USA |
| Full Name: | Mr. Dana Levenson |
| Job Title: | Managing Director |
| Organization: | Royal Bank of Scotland |
| Full Name: | Dr. Adrian Moore, Ph.D. |
| Job Title: | Vice President of Research |
| Organization: | Reason Foundation |
| Full Name: | Ms. Kathy Ruffalo-Farnsworth |
| Job Title: | |
| Organization: | Ruffalo & Associates |
| Full Name: | Mr. Elliott G. Sander ("Lee") |
| Job Title: | Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer |
| Organization: | New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority |
| Full Name: | Mr. Zack Scrivner |
| Job Title: | Councilman |
| Organization: | City of Bakersfield |
| Full Name: | Mr. Martin Shultz |
| Job Title: | Vice President of Government Affairs |
| Organization: | Pinnacle West Corporation |
| Full Name: | Mr. Geoffrey Yarema |
| Job Title: | Partner |
| Organization: | Nossaman Guthner Knox & Elliott LLP |