Advisory Board

George Palko PE , President/CEO Great Lakes Construction

George Palko, PE, is President and CEO of The Great Lakes Construction Co., a heavy highway construction company located in Hinckley, Ohio. A graduate of Cleveland State University, with both a BS in Civil Engineering and an MBA, Mr. Palko began his career with Great Lakes as a co-op student. He joined the company full-time in 1988. During his employment, he worked as an estimator, field superintendent, and contracts manager. In 1997, he was named President. In May of 2000, he became Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Palko is active in numerous associations including American Institute of Constructors, American Road & Transportation Builders Association, American Society of Civil Engineers, Cleveland Engineering Society, and the Board of Directors for the Ohio Contractors Association. He was also a founding member of the UTC Advisory Board.

Anthony Liberatore, Laborer's 860

Anthony D. Liberatore, Jr. is Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer of Laborers’ Local 860 located in Cleveland, Ohio. Tony began his career with Laborers’ Local 860 as laborer in 1979. He became a delegate in 1982 and then a Field Representative in 1984 until he was elected Business Manager in 1993. Tony has also been Secretary-Treasurer since 1995. He has been on the Ohio Laborers’ District Council Executive Board since 1995 and has also served as Vice-President for the last 7 years and its Apprenticeship Committee since 2005. Tony also has served as a Trustee for five different Ohio Labor- associated Funds since 1995.

Mark Potnick, Ohio Contractors Association

Bruce Owens, Vice President, Plastic Safety Systems

Bruce Owens, a charter member of the CSU Transportation Center board of directors, is Vice-President of Marketing and Sales for Plastic Safety Systems, Inc (PSS). With headquarters in Cleveland, PSS designs, manufactures and markets temporary traffic control devices for permanent and temporary roadway applications. The PSS product line consists of traffic drums, channelizers, barricades and sand barrel crash cushions, and other traffic safety products. Bruce has been instrumental in the growth of PSS, since joining the company in 1993. He has led many successful product introductions, such as those for Anchor Type III Barricade, CrashGard sand barrel, RoadQuake Rumble Strip and SafetyRail ADA Barricade. These products have been received enthusiastically by a market that needs innovative, crashworthy, cost-effective devices. A zealous advocate of traffic safety, Bruce has long served in various capacities in two major trade associations: American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), and American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA). Bruce completed a successful term as an ATSSA board member, having served from 2003 to 2006. Bruce currently serves as a member of ARTBA’s Traffic Safety Industry Division (TSID) committee.

Tracy Scriba, Federal Highway Association

Tracy Scriba is a program manager with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Headquarters’ Work Zone Mobility and Safety Team. In this position, Ms. Scriba leads FHWA’s efforts for implementation of the Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule. She also manages FHWA work zone research and implementation support related to data and performance measures, best practices, and ITS in work zones. She serves as Secretary of the TRB Work Zone Traffic Control Committee and is an active member of the ATSSA ITS Council, the AASHTO Traffic Engineering Work Zone Task Force, the AASHTO System Operation and Management Committee, and ITE. Prior to joining FHWA, Ms. Scriba earned a BS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia and worked as a consultant on both transportation and environmental issues for over 10 years.

Bonnie Teeuwen PE, Director of Public Works

Bonita G. Teeuwen became the Director of Public Works for Cuyahoga County in February of 2011. Prior to serving as Public Works Director she was the Deputy Director of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) District 12, a position she held since February 2007. Ms. Teeuwen has worked as a project engineer for Quality Control Inspection, Inc. In this role, she focused on the Euclid Corridor project in Cleveland and acted as GCRTA’s representative for the $200 million transit project. She has also worked as Ohio Transportation Group Manager for Wade Trim in Cleveland and in development of transportation and municipal projects for Michael Benza and Associates, Inc. Before her private sector work, Ms. Teeuwen worked for ODOT District 12 for thirteen years, most recently as Roadway Services Manager/Assistant District Bridge Engineer. She holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Akron and is a certified Professional Engineer (PE).

Tom McGlynn, Highway Safety Business Unit Director (Retired), 3M Traffic Safety Systems Division

Tom McGlynn was employed at 3M for 36 years. He retired recently (December 2009). While at 3M Tom was a member of the 3M Executive Committee. He held various positions over the years in marketing and business management. Tom spent three years in corporate marketing where he taught Strategic Planning and Market Planning internally to 3M Management. He was the Business Unit Manager in Europe for the Printing and Publishing Systems Division. In this position he was responsible for 16 countries. Fir the past 6 years Tom was Global Director for the Highway Safety Business Unit which is part of the Traffic Safety Systems Division. This Unit was the leading highway safety company in industry. Tom is a member of numerous industry and traffic safety organizations including ATSSA, NACE and NCUTCD (National Committee Uniform Traffic Control Devices). NUTCD helps in developing standards which are often incorporated into the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

John Durkos, Vice President of Technical Support & Marketing, Road Systems, Inc.

John C. Durkos is Vice President, Technical Support & Marketing, for Road Systems Inc. Road Systems Inc. manufactures roadside safety products, including guardrail terminals and crash cushions, and is headquartered in Texas. Mr. Durkos works out of the Stow, OH, office and is a graduate of Youngstown State University, holding a degree in Mechanical Engineering and further studies in Civil Engineering. He began his professional career in 1982. Prior to joining Road Systems, Inc. in 1997, he worked as a Sales Engineer for Syro/Trinity in Girard, OH, and as Director of Marketing for Energy Absorption Systems in Chicago, IL. He is active in numerous national associations, including the following: TRB Committee AFB20 (Committee on Roadside Safety Features); AASHTO-AGC-ARTBA Joint Committee, Task Force 13 (Subcommittee on New Highway Materials); ATSSA (American Traffic Safety Services Association); ATSSA National Instructor for the two different Guardrail Training Courses; and several NCHRP Panels including NCHRP 22-14(2) & 22-14(3): Rewrite of NCHRP 350 and NCHRP 22-23: Criteria for Restoration of Longitudinal Barriers.

John Bassett, Channel Manager, 3M Traffic Safety Systems Division

A 25-year 3Mer, John has developed and implemented a National Channel Strategy and Key Account Program. John’s tenure at 3M includes time spent in National Sales and Marketing Management for two 3M divisions. He has been with the Traffic Safety Systems division for seven years. Located in St. Louis, Missouri, he works with St. Paul-based management and field customers to align 3M’s strategy with market segments to support 3M’s current product and service offerings. In this role, he works in parallel with 3M Sales Teams to support safety improvement products, innovation objectives, and demand creation for traffic safety in government agencies and safety organizations.

Jeff Lechak PE, Cleveland Area Manager, Parsons Brinckerhoff

Jeff Lechak is a transportation engineer experienced in the construction and operations of highways, bridges, BRT, traffic signals, traffic signing, MOT, underground utilities, streetscapes and landscapes. Jeff has over 17 years of industry experience, 15 with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). Jeff served as a Resident Engineer on the Euclid Corridor Transportation Project (ECTP-HealthLine) in downtown Cleveland. While at ODOT Jeff worked as the District 11 Highway Management Administrator with administration responsibilities for construction, roadway engineering, materials testing and system conditions maintenance of the District’s interstate and state highway system. In addition to transportation engineering, Jeff’s responsibilities have included strategic planning and implementation, financial analysis, integrating total quality performance principles, systematic project and project delivery, inventory control systems, and innovative capital improvement planning.