Shailen Bhatt has a big job on his hands. The CEO and president of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America is the second to hold the post in two years following the resignation last July of his predecessor Regina Hopper. It has not been the easiest time for the not-for-profit organisation, which has admitted that there was some rebuilding to do. Bhatt comes with a considerable pedigree. He was executive director of the Colorado Department of Transportation for three years from February 2015 and, before that, cabinet secretary of the Delaware DoT and in a policy role at the Federal Highway Administration.
Bhatt is a lifelong public servant and has spoken candidly of his sadness at leaving the public sector, calling it a “bittersweet day”. Rather winningly, he spoke of the “nobility” of public service. “There has almost been a demonisation of the public sector in recent years,” he says sadly in his first interview with ITS International. “The majority of public servants choose to give their careers to serving their city, province or state. It’s nice to be around people with that mindset. I feel for nearly the last decade I’ve been going in to work feeling I was going to save lives or make people’s lives better.”
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