Skip to main content

Shailen Bhatt appointed ITS America President & CEO

The Board of directors of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America has chosen Shailen Bhatt as president & chief executive officer. Bhatt joins ITS America with an extensive background in promoting and advocating for intelligent transportation and was most recently executive director of Colorado Department of Transportation. Bhatt also focused on deploying transportation technology, creating the RoadX program and making Colorado a national innovation leader.
October 27, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

The Board of directors of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America has chosen Shailen Bhatt as president & chief executive officer. Bhatt joins 560 ITS America with an extensive background in promoting and advocating for intelligent transportation and was most recently executive director of 5701 Colorado Department of Transportation.

Bhatt also focused on deploying transportation technology, creating the RoadX program and making Colorado a national innovation leader. By teaming with the private sector to help shape the future of transportation, he has been selected one of 10 global finalists and moving forward with a first-of-its-kind feasibility study to build 8535 Hyperloop. In addition, he has partnered with OTTO/Uber Trucking to complete the world’s first commercial delivery by a self-driving truck; also deployed the world's first autonomous impact protection vehicle to protect work zones from distracted drivers. Bhatt has partnered with 598 Panasonic to build the world's first commercial grade, licensable, Connected Vehicle Ecosystem and also with HERE to enable vehicle to everything communications.

Bringing a portfolio of management and public policy expertise to 560 ITS America, Bhatt has been cabinet secretary of 7423 Delaware Department of Transportation and associate administrator of the 831 Federal Highway Administration. He has also played a leadership role on the national stage for transportation policy through his board service on the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, and chair of the National Operations Center of Excellence and Vehicle to Infrastructure Deployment Coalition.

Bhatt succeeds David St. Amant, who served as interim president and CEO since 1 August 2017.

Chris Murray, ITS America board chairman, CEO of 4984 Kapsch TrafficCom North America, said: "Shailen Bhatt is uniquely positioned to drive the mission of ITS America forward as intelligent transportation and connected and autonomous vehicles are poised to dramatically alter the transportation landscape by increasing safety, equity, sustainability and economic opportunity in the states and cities across the nation".

Related Content

  • $60m in grants from USDoT for V2X deployment
    June 27, 2024
    Arizona, Texas and Utah receive money to improved connectivity and transportation
  • Unique State DOT CEO Roundtable
    March 28, 2013
    Delegates to the ITS America Annual Meeting will have an opportunity, on Sunday, April 21, of attending a unique event – the State DOT CEO Roundtable. Attendees will hear first-hand from more than 19 State DOT CEOs as they discuss how they are using technology to address their transportation challenges, what the results have been, and how their ITS strategy may change given the passage of MAP-21. Never before have so many State DOT leaders come together to discuss in an open forum the issues that matter mos
  • US launches distracted driving campaign
    April 7, 2014
    Launching National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced the Department of Transportation's first-ever national advertising campaign and law enforcement crackdown to combat distracted driving. As part of the effort, television, radio and digital advertisements using the phrase U Drive, U Text, U Pay will run from 7-15 April, which coincides with a nationwide law enforcement crackdown in states with distracted driving bans.
  • Ken Leonard talks to ITS International
    August 21, 2014
    Ken Leonard, director of the USDOT’s ITS Joint Program office made time in his schedule during the Helsinki Congress to speak to ITS International. It has been 18 months since Ken Leonard took over as the director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office at the US Department of Transportation. With 30 years of technical experience behind him, to say he is enjoying the challenge would be to put it mildly: “It is incredibly exciting to be working in intelligent transportation systems, th