Econolite hires ex-Michigan DoT boss Kirk Steudle

1763 Econolite has hired one of the best-known names in the ITS industry: Kirk Steudle is joining the company with a remit to fulfil two key roles.

Steudle, the former director of 1688 Michigan Department of Transportation (MDoT), will be senior vice president, leading Econolite’s Transportation Systems Group and also in charge of 8235 CAVita, its connected and autonomous vehicles (C/AV) subsidiary.

His responsibilities will include all C/AV projects and large-scale systems projects.

Steudle had spent his entire professional career at MDoT. He retired last month after 31 years there – the last 13 of them as director. He stepped in as <%$Linker:2Internal<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary />4364680link-external interim chief executivefalse/categories/location-based-systems/news/acm-appoints-interim-chief-executive-officer-and-president/falsefalse%> of the 8742 American Center for Mobility recently after its boss, John Maddox, departed. But there had been no concrete news that Steudle would take a new permanent role in ITS – until now.

The equivalent of a star signing in sports, Econolite’s move will be seen as a statement of intent in the traffic management sector.  

It is perhaps no surprise that Steudle is back in the fray. In an <%$Linker:2Internal<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary />4332790link-external interviewfalse/sections/comment-interview/interviews/making-the-most-of-michigan/falsefalse%> with ITS International, published earlier this year, he was still full of enthusiasm for the industry: “We are in the midst of a transformational change which, in many cases, we don’t fully understand, but we will look back at this time in two or three decades and say ‘Wow - this is really sigificant’,” he said then.

In a written statement following the Econolite announcement, he commented: “My perspective on the future of transportation aligns perfectly with Econolite’s vision of integrating technology today to create smarter connected communities and connected and automated mobility for the future.”

He said he was looking forward to working with Econolite, its partners, and transportation agencies, “in forging new relationships and in applying new technologies that will help move people and goods in a safe and efficient transportation system”.

Econolite president & COO Abbas Mohaddes adds: “His leadership and proven track record for delivering notable results for some of the most influential transportation programmes is unmatched, and we are very pleased to have him join the team and play a significant role in our growth and expansion plan in products and services.”