Former head of Iowa DOT Trombino named president of McClure Engineering Company

Former Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) Director Paul Trombino III has been named president of McClure Engineering Company.

McClure Engineering Company (MEC) announced Wednesday Trombino's hiring as the Clive-based company's next president. He will officially begin his new role Jan. 3.

'Transportation economics have a broad application for helping communities and the states of the Midwest,” Trombino said in the release. 'I am looking forward to working with such a talented group of engineering professionals who wake up every day thinking, ‘How can we help our clients build better infrastructure for the future?'”

Trombino in November announced that after about six years leading the Iowa DOT, he would be resigning. Tombino said he did not have specific work plans at the time.

Gov. Terry Branstad appointed Trombino as DOT director in May 2011, and he was confirmed by the Iowa Senate in June of that year.

Later that month, Branstad named Mark Lowe, who had been Director of the DOT's Motor Vehicle Division since 2009, as the DOT's interim director.

The Iowa Governor's Office eventually plans to permanently fill the director position.

The DOT, which employs more than 2,600 people, is in the midst of growth in statewide freight traffic - the number of large trucks on Iowa's primary roads has grown by 123 percent over the past three decades - and infrastructure updates, including the overhaul of the Interstate 80 and Interstate 380 interchange, among other major projects.

In addition, Terry Lutz, who has served as the MEC's president since 1985, will become the company's CEO and chairman of the board.

'This is an exciting time for our company,” Lutz said in the release. 'Paul has brought a vision to our state focused on economic development by leveraging freight movement, specifically leading the development of freight commodity data. His vision and thought process align perfectly with our culture at McClure Engineering Company.”

MEC was founded in 1956 and provides engineering services to public and private clients. MEC has 10 offices throughout Iowa and Missouri and is conducting work in 35 states in the U.S., according to the release.