On May 8, 2015, President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Gregory G. Nadeau, the current deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration to be the Administrator of that agency.
Nadeau is from Lewiston, Maine, graduating from Lewiston High School in 1973. He attended the University of Maine and worked at Friend’s Deli, which was owned by his parents.
Nadeau was elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 1978 and was the youngest member of that body when he began serving there at age 23. He continued to work in the family business, sold real estate and worked on political campaigns. In 1979, he became assistant to the state coordinator for the Carter-Mondale re-election effort and in 1982 worked on the re-election campaign of Maine Governor Joseph Brennan. He also served as special assistant to Lewiston Mayor Paul Dionne.
Nadeau left office in 1990 and was president of Public Policy Associates, a lobbying firm he founded with another former state legislator.
Nadeau moved back into state government in 1993 as the policy advisor to the office of the president of the Maine senate. In 1995 he moved to the office of Governor Angus King (now a U.S. senator) as senior policy advisor for issues including transportation and economic development. Nadeau joined the Maine Department of Transportation in 2002 as director of policy and communications and in 2004 was named deputy commissioner for policy, planning and communications and served on the Maine Turnpike Authority Board of Directors.
Nadeau was named deputy administrator at the Federal Highway Administration in July 2009.
Nadeau and his wife, Diane, who married in 1982, have two children. Nadeau’s brother, Phil Nadeau, is the deputy city administrator of Lewiston, Maine.
-Steve Straehley
To Learn More:
Testimony before Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (pdf)
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