Board Bios

Diane Linderman, PE, PWLF, President
 

Diane Linderman has been a member of the public works community since 1979 and an active member of APWA since 1991, the same year she joined the public works staff of the City of Richmond, Va., as City Engineer. In 1999 she was appointed Director of Public Works for the City, a position she held until joining the Richmond office of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB), where she provides expertise in the field of public works to both private and municipal clients.
 
Linderman has been an active member of APWA at both the chapter and national levels, including participation on the Utility and Public Right-of-Way (UPROW) Committee (1998-2001; Chair, 2000-01), Finance Committee (2007-10; Chair, 2008-10), and Government Affairs Committee (2003-07). In addition, she served as a director of the VA/DC/MD Chapter from 2002-04. In 2003 she was named one of APWA’s Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year. 

Elizabeth Treadway, PWLF, President-Elect
 

Elizabeth Treadway is Vice President with AMEC Environment and Infrastructure, Johnson City, Tenn., and has been with the firm for 12 years. Her responsibilities with AMEC include leading the water resource practice area and working with officials from many locations on solving water resource issues. Prior to joining AMEC, Treadway worked for the City of Greensboro, N.C., for 16 years in public works, joining the department in 1983 as a Transportation Planner. After being promoted to Environmental Services Director, she was responsible for the delivery of solid waste collection and disposal, recycling, stormwater management, fleet management, hazardous waste management, and household hazardous waste collection and disposal.

Treadway has been actively involved in APWA since 1986 at both the chapter and national levels. In addition to having been North Carolina Chapter President, she has been the chapter’s committee chair for the Administrative, Audit, Budget, Education and Training, Nominating, State Government Affairs, and PACE Committees. At the national level, she has been a member of the Water Resources Management Committee (1995-98; Chair, 1996-97), Government Affairs Committee (1998-2000), Congress Planning Committee (1995-97), Membership Committee (Chair, 2009-11), and most recently co-chaired the Certification and Professional Development Group. Treadway was named one of APWA’s Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year in 1997.

George Crombie, MPA, BCEEM, PWLF, Past President
 

George Crombie serves as Senior Faculty Member for Public Works Administration in the MPA program at Norwich University, Northfield, Vt. He is also President of Crombie Consulting, specializing in public works/utility management, education, and sustainability management. He recently served as the Secretary of Natural Resources for the State of Vermont, overseeing more than 600 employees and an $80 million budget. Crombie’s career has included public works directorships in the Cities and Towns of Durham, N.H.; Burlington, VT; Nashua, N.H.; and Plymouth, Mass. He also served as Undersecretary of Environmental Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
 
Crombie is a past chair of APWA’s Solid Waste Management Committee and a former member of the Government Affairs Committee. In addition, he was instrumental in initiating the Blueprint for Education and Certification for public works professionals. He was named one of APWA’s Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year in 2002, is a former recipient of a Jennings Randolph Fellowship, and was awarded the Charles Walter Nichols Award in 2001 for his work on environmental issues. 

Richard F. Stinson, PWLF, Director, Region I
 

Richard (Rick) Stinson has served as the Director of Public Works for the Town of Wakefield, Mass., since 2001. He directly oversees ten divisions which include Highway, Water, Sewer, Parks, Forestry, Cemetery, Fleet Maintenance, Buildings, Administration, and Engineering. He previously served as the Director of Operations for the Town of Danvers, Mass., from 1994-2001, and as Business Manager, Town of Wakefield, from 1988-1994. Stinson currently serves on Wakefield’s Galvin Middle School Advisory Building Committee, the Massachusetts Safe Routes to Schools Task Force, Wakefield’s World War II Monument Committee, and Wakefield’s Traffic Advisory Committee.
 
Stinson is a former member of APWA’s Finance Committee and chaired the Task Force on Future Conferences. He has been a member of the Governance Task Force (2006), National Nominating Committee (2004-05), Top Ten Public Works Leaders Selection Committee (2005-08), and Livable Communities Task Force (1997-98). He served on the New England Chapter Board of Directors for 15 years (1993-2008) and served as Chapter Delegate (2002-09) and Chapter President (2001). He has served on a number of chapter committees and chaired the Steering Committee for the 2010 Boston Congress. Stinson was named one of APWA’s Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year in 2003. 



 

Edward A. Gottko, P.E., ret., PWLF, Director, Region II

Edward A. Gottko’s career in public works began in 1970 as the Assistant City Engineer for the City of Bayonne, N.J. In 1979 he was appointed the Town Engineer/Director of Public Works for the Town of Westfield, N.J., and in 1994 was appointed the Town Administrator at Westfield. In 2000 he retired from public service and now serves as an adjunct professor at several colleges in New York and New Jersey.
 
Gottko has been a member of APWA since 1972 and recently served as a member of the Certification/Education Task Force. He is a member of the Finance Committee (2008-10) and is currently serving as Chair of the Finance Committee. He has served on a number of other committees, including the Master’s Degree Task Force (Chair, 2005-06) and the Education Committee (2004). Gottko is a Past President of the New Jersey Chapter and has also chaired the chapter’s Education/Training Committee. In 2002 he received the Donald C. Stone Award for Excellence in Education.
 

William (Bo) Mills III, PWLF, Director, Region III
 

William (Bo) Mills is the Director of Public Services with the City of Germantown, Tenn., and has been in that position for seven years. His duties include the direct supervision of the programs and personnel associated with the following areas: Animal Control; Parks/ROW Grounds Maintenance; State Street Aid; Stormwater Maintenance; Street Maintenance; Water Production and Distribution; Sewer Collection; and many utility-related CIP projects. Prior to becoming the Director of Public Services, Mills served the City of Germantown as Assistant Director of Public Services for seven years and Solid Waste Coordinator for six years. He has spent his entire working career with the Germantown Public Works Department.
 
Mills has been an APWA member since 1989. At the chapter level, he served as the Tennessee Chapter’s West Branch director for six years, working through the chapter’s officer positions until becoming Chapter President in 2005. He has served as the Chapter Delegate since 2000, and has also served on the chapter’s Membership, Awards, Education, and Past President’s Advisory Committees. At the national level, Mills served three years on the Membership Committee, two years on the Transportation Committee, and chaired the Roadway Safety Subcommittee for two years. In 2008 he was elected to the House of Delegates (HOD) Executive Committee and was named HOD Chair in 2010-11. He was part of the Professional Development and Credentialing Group in 2010-11, which is responsible for the development of the APWA Donald C. Stone Center for Leadership Excellence in Public Works.
  

Tommy Brown, Director, Region IV

 

Tommy Brown has worked in the public works sector for 37 years. He began his career in 1973 working as a mechanic for the City of LaGrange, Ga. He was promoted to Parts Manager in 1980 and to Garage Superintendent, his current position, in 1988. When Brown began his tenure as Garage Superintendent there were no computers, no automated fuel system and no charge-back rates, but he has been able to convert the shop to a modern, self-supporting internal department. He supervises a staff of 15 employees and handles all the challenges that face a city with regards to its fleet of vehicles and equipment.
 
Brown has been an active member of APWA for 25 years. He served as the Georgia Chapter President in 1999, chaired the chapter’s Equipment Service Committee in 1995, and has been the Chapter Delegate for the past 10 years. At the national level, he is a former member of the Fleet Services Committee, Education Committee, Congress Planning Committee, National Nominating Committee and Region IV Nominating Committee. 

Linda Petelka, B.Sc., PWLF, Director, Region V
 

As Manager of Wastewater Program Planning for the Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario, Linda Petelka and her staff are responsible for programs and services such as the Inflow and Infiltration Program, Flow Monitoring Program, Standards Development, Hydraulic Modeling, Local Improvements, State of Good Repair and Servicing Feasibility Studies. Prior to her current position, she worked for the Regional Municipality of Halton, Ontario, for 23 years, where she played an influential role in guiding the Region through a period of unprecedented industry-wide change. Petelka played a critical role in transforming the Canadian National Water and Wastewater Benchmarking Initiative partnership into the Canadian standard for water and wastewater best practice development.
 
Petelka served as a member of the CPWA Board of Directors from 2009-2011. She has been a member of the Ontario Chapter’s Board of Directors since 2000, serving as Chapter President in 2008. She is a past chair of the Chapter’s Membership Committee and Hospitality Committee, currently serves on the Special Functions Committee, and is also the current chair of the Volunteer Committee for the 2014 APWA Congress & Exposition to be held in Toronto. Petelka organized the chapter’s response to the St. Bernard Parish volunteer effort for the New Orleans Congress (2008) in support of APWA’s initiative. She was named one of APWA’s Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year in 2009 and was the recipient of APWA’s Community Involvement Award in 2010.
  

Larry Stevens, P.E., Director, Region V

Since 1976, Larry Stevens has served in numerous leadership roles, including Assistant City Engineer, City of Grinnell, Iowa; City Engineer, City of Oskaloosa, Iowa; and City Engineer/Public Works Director at Oskaloosa. After serving as the Director of the Iowa Statewide Urban Design and Specifications (SUDAS) Program at the Institute for Transportation at Iowa State University, Stevens joined Howard R. Green Company, Johnston, Iowa, as Senior Project Manager in 2010.
 
Stevens was recently appointed by APWA to the Board of Directors of the Institute of Sustainable Infrastructure. In addition, he serves as APWA’s Board liaison to the Small Cities/Rural Communities Committee. Stevens has served in all of the Iowa Chapter officer positions including eight years as the Chapter Delegate, and has also been a member of the National Nominating Committee (2005) and the Strategic Planning Task Force (2005). He is a past Chapter President of the Iowa Engineering Society and is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers. 

Jimmy B. Foster, P.E., PWLF, Director, Region VII

Jimmy B. Foster, P.E., is Program Manager for Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., responsible for managing the consultancy services for the Maintenance Department of the North Texas Tollway Authority. From 1999 through 2008, he served as the Director of Public Works for the City of Plano, Tex., with responsibility for the Public Works Operations Division and the Fleet and Equipment Services Division. Foster previously served as the Director of Public Services for the City of Colleyville, Tex.; Director of Public Works for the City of Hurst, Tex.; and City Engineer for the Cities of Grand Prairie, Tex., and Greeley, Colo. He was also a self-employed consulting engineer for three years.
 
Foster began his career in international service in 1980 with his work as a community development consultant in Burkina Faso, West Africa. He has visited and worked in 57 countries, advising overseas personnel regarding humanitarian projects and assisting in the development of disaster relief plans around the world. Foster has served the Texas Chapter as the Chapter Delegate (2002-07) and as a member of several committees. He is a former member of the national Diversity Committee (2008), Government Affairs Committee (2006-08), Finance Committee (2003-06), International Affairs Committee (2001-04; Chair, 2003-04) and Nominating Committee (2001-02). He was named one of APWA’s Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year in 2005 and received APWA’s International Service Award in 2007.
 

Ronald J. Calkins, P.E., PWLF, Director, Region VIII

Ronald (Ron) J. Calkins, P.E., served as the Director of Public Works for the City of Ventura, Calif., for 17 years, retiring in 2010. His previous work experience includes City Engineer for the City of Ventura; Assistant Public Works Director/Chief Engineer for the City of Santa Barbara, Calif.; and Principal Engineer, Senior Engineer, Associate Engineer and Assistant Engineer for the Ventura Regional Sanitation District.
 
Calkins is a former member of APWA’s State and Local Advocacy Task Force and the Body of Knowledge Task Force, and is a former Chapter Delegate for the Ventura County Chapter. He co-founded the Ventura County branch of APWA’s Southern California Chapter in 1982, which then became the Ventura County Chapter in 1995. Calkins is a former trustee for the Public Works Historical Society and a former trustee for the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. He was named one of APWA’s Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year in 2008. 

Doug Drever, P.Eng., FEC, Director, Region IX

Doug Drever has more than 30 years of experience in the public works field, including serving as Manager of Public Works, Manager of Strategic Services, Water and Wastewater Operations Engineer, Acting Business Administrator, Manager of Roadways, and Land Development Manager for the City of Saskatoon, SK. He is currently serving as Project Director for the completion of the Ring Road for the City of Saskatoon.
 
Drever is a past co-chair of the Annual Saskatchewan Public Works Conference and a former Chapter Delegate. In addition, he is a former member of the Finance Committee, Water Resources Management Committee and Transportation Committee. Drever is involved in various volunteer organizations such as the Provincial Professional Engineering Association as the current chair of the Professional Development Committee and past chair of the Consulting Practices Committee, and as Past President and Director of the local City Employees Credit Union. He is a Fellow of Engineers Canada and is also an active volunteer within the Saskatoon community for many different events. 

Patricia Hilderbrand, P.E., Director-at-Large, Engineering and Technology
 

Patricia (Patty) Hilderbrand, P.E., serves as Program Management & Development Division Manager for the City of Kansas City, Mo. In her twelve years with the Public Works Department, her duties have included project management of major flood mitigation projects with the U.S. Corps of Engineers; directing the department’s $500 million, five-year Capital Improvements Program; directing and implementing a city-wide, Internet-based, comprehensive program and project management system; and serving as primary liaison to the local Metropolitan Planning Organization, MoDOT and all local jurisdictions.
 
Since joining the Kansas City Metro Chapter in 1997, Hilderbrand has chaired the chapter’s Awards Committee and the Engineering & Technology Committee, and also served as the co-chair of the Operations Committee for the 2006 APWA Congress & Exposition in Kansas City. At the national level she is a former member of the Leadership and Management Committee and the Government Affairs Committee. In 2003 she received APWA’s Young Leader of the Year Award. 

 Daryl Grigsby, Director-at-Large, Environmental Management

Daryl Grigsby has been in the public works field for twenty-five years, with twenty years as a manager in various organizations and the other five years in budget and grants. He has been the Deputy Director of San Diego’s Water Utilities System Division (water distribution and wastewater collection operations and maintenance), King County/Seattle Metro’s Wastewater Treatment Division, Seattle’s Transportation Department, and King County’s Water and Land Resources Division. He has served as the Public Works Director for the City of Kirkland, Wash., and is currently the Public Works Director for the City of Pomona, Calif.
 
As a member of the Washington State Chapter for eleven years, Grigsby participated on a number of committees including Strategic Planning, Membership, and Government Affairs. At the national level, he served on the state and local Advocacy Task Force. In 1998, Grigsby received the Washington Chapter’s Roy Morse Award for Excellence in Public Works. He was recognized as one of APWA’s Top Ten Public Works Leaders in 2009. 

Brian R. Usher, PWLF, Director-at-Large, Fleet and Facilities Management
 

As Director of Public Works for the City of Largo, Fla., Brian R. Usher is responsible for the management of the five operating divisions within the Department of Public Works: Street & Drainage Maintenance, Facilities Management, Solid Waste, Fleet Management, and Administration. Together these activities account for services on more than 250 miles of street, over 40 public structures, and over 500 City-owned vehicles (including police and fire apparatus). Additionally, the Public Works Department is responsible for the repair and maintenance of 34 facilities with a total area just over 500,000 square feet. Usher has been actively involved in fleet management since 1980, with responsibilities for specification writing, fleet management system development and implementation, and fuel system upgrades for environmental compliance.

Usher has been an active 27-year member of APWA, serving in numerous leadership roles both locally and nationally. He served in all five officer positions with the Chicago Metro Chapter, served as the chapter’s Membership Chair and Education Chair for two years, and served on the APWA Congress Host Committee for the 1994 Chicago Congress. He served on the national Emergency Management Committee for six years (2002-08) and chaired the committee in 2003-04. He also chaired APWA’s Homeland Security Task Force (2002-03) and the Engineering and Technology Committee. Usher was named one of APWA’s Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year in 2005.


 

Cora Jackson-Fossett, Director-at-Large, Leadership and Management

Cora Jackson-Fossett serves as Public Information Director II for the Public Affairs Office of the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works. She serves as city and department spokesperson and has led a number of high-profile communications initiatives including public works program and service introductions, ongoing grassroots engagements, employee communications, and crisis communications response. She has been a communications leader and public servant for more than 28 years and has been a Public Information Director since 1999 serving Los Angeles and its four million residents.
 
Jackson-Fossett has been an active member of APWA since 2001. She has chaired the Southern California Chapter’s Diversity Committee, instructs classes for the Public Works Institute, and serves as publicity co-chair for the chapter’s hosting of the 2012 Congress. At the national level she has been a member of the Membership Committee, and the Progressive Women in Public Works Subcommittee. In 2006, Jackson-Fossett represented APWA on the “Water is Life & Infrastructure Makes it Happen” national outreach program co-sponsored by the Water Environment Federation. She has authored numerous articles on diversity and public outreach for the APWA Reporter and has presented as a speaker at the APWA Congress every year since 2003. 

 Susan Hann, P.E., AICP, ICMA-CM, Director-at-Large, Transportation

Susan (Sue) Hann was appointed City Manager of Palm Bay, Fla. after 12 years of serving the city; five years as the Public Works Director and seven years as the Deputy City Manager overseeing the Public Works Department, the Parks and Recreation Department, the Growth Management Department and Economic Development. She previously worked for Brevard County for more than eight years as the Staff Director of the Brevard Metropolitan Planning Organization. Most of Hann’s 30 years of professional experience has been related to transportation either as a practicing traffic engineer, a transportation planner or a manager of transportation projects.
 
Hann has been actively involved in APWA at both the chapter and national levels. She chairs the Florida Chapter’s Public Works Institute Committee and, since 2008, the chapter has been running a successful institute in partnership with Indian River State College, graduating their second class in April 2010. At the national level, she has served as Chair of the Finance Committee (2010-2011), a member of the Certification and Professional Development Group, on the Leadership and Management Committee (2003-08; Chair, 2004-06) and the Government Affairs Committee (2008-09). She has actively participated with the Transportation Committee and the SAFETEA-LU Task Force, and participated in the development and implementation of APWA’s Center for Sustainability. Hann has written numerous articles on leadership topics for the APWA Reporter, frequently presented at the APWA Congress and served on the 2005 Strategic Planning Committee.