Gene Conti joined his wife, Betsy, in a management consultancy in January 2013. Their practice focuses on business development and revenue growth for clients in transportation, energy, and health care, as well as training and coaching leaders in those sectors.
Gene served as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Transportation from 2009-2013. He has more than two decades of public service and private business management experience, including tenures as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation; Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy at the United States Department of Transportation; and Vice President of PBS&J (now Atkins), an engineering consulting firm.
Secretary Conti directed a sweeping reform of the NCDOT, an agency of government with nearly 13,000 employees and an annual budget of $5 billion. He focused on removing politics from the decision making process so that projects were selected based on objective, data-driven analysis of their benefits and costs. Under his leadership, NCDOT was transformed into an organization that emphasizes performance management, transparency and accountability.
He also led the effort to create a transportation system for the 21st century that is attracting businesses and jobs to North Carolina — an interconnected network of roads, rail, airports, ferries, mass transit and greenways that offers a range of options to move people and goods. He organized NC’s logistics initiative in 2009, chaired a national committee focused on developing intercity passenger and freight rail from 2009-13, and is widely recognized as an authority on innovative transportation finance strategies.
In recognition of his longstanding commitment to systematic transportation improvements, Secretary Conti was awarded the Thomas H. McDonald Award in 2012 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). This award, named for the first director of the Bureau of Public Roads and the genius behind our national highway and interstate systems, is awarded only when justified for lifetime achievement in transportation.
Gene Conti is a native of Pittsburgh, PA, and a long-time resident of Raleigh. He earned his Ph.D. in anthropology as well as his master’s degree in policy science and public affairs from Duke University. He is quite passionate about Steeler Black and Gold and Duke Blue.
He and his wife Betsy have four children.