The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) added two staff members to its advocacy and engineering teams.
Nile Elam takes the helm of the advocacy team as vice president of government affairs. Throughout his 12-year advocacy career, Elam previously worked on legislative affairs and regulatory policy for other associations in the construction and transportation sectors.
Notably, he was senior director of energy and resources policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, director of government affairs at the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association and director of legislative affairs and owner-operator of Independent Drivers Association. He has also held other government affairs positions.
As NAPA’s new government affairs staff lead, the association says Elam will represent the asphalt pavement industry before Congress, federal agencies and stakeholder groups; oversee NAPA’s legislative and regulatory team; and staff NAPA’s political action committee (PAC), including implementation of a new individual political advocacy membership.
“Having worked with NAPA on a variety of construction material and infrastructure issues over the years and supporting the Transportation Construction Coalition’s annual legislative fly-in, I experienced firsthand the scope and successes of the industry’s presence in Washington,” Elam says. “I am energized to build upon these achievements and lead NAPA’s advocacy with key policy stakeholders on Capitol Hill and in the administration, addressing the issues critical to our members.”
Elam replaces Jay Hansen, who retired February 28 after 25 years with NAPA. Most recently, Hansen served as executive vice president of advocacy. He also oversaw the founding of NAPA PAC along with the association’s current chair of the board, Christian Zimmermann of CRH Americas Materials.
“Most people pay no attention to what they drive on, even legislators,” Hansen says. “It’s been my honor to represent the industry and to educate people on the policy and practicality of asphalt pavement, from the halls of Congress to the media to individual members. It’s important that we as a nation don’t take our roads for granted. Nile will be an effective advocate for our continued prosperity.”
Engineering addition
Jean-Paul Fort also joined NAPA as director of pavement engineering and innovation. In this role, Fort will work within NAPA’s engineering, research, and technology team, leading strategies to advance asphalt pavement technologies for value, quality and innovation. Fort will also support deployment and rapid adoption of innovations, according to NAPA.
Throughout his years working in asphalt road technologies and leadership in the industry, NAPA says Fort has supervised international road-building projects for clients such as the World Bank, facilitated the adoption of European technologies in the U.S. and led technical and laboratory efforts at Barrett Paving Materials and Colas USA for the past two decades.
Fort has been an active volunteer with NAPA as well as NCAT (the National Center for Asphalt Technology) at Auburn University. He serves on the NCAT Steering Committee and on CAPRI (the Consortium for Asphalt Pavement Research & Implementation). He is also a member of the Association of Asphalt Pavement Technologists and the Transportation Research Board Standing Committee on Asphalt Pavement Construction and Rehabilitation.
“I am delighted to join the NAPA team to advance technical innovation and adaptation,” Fort says. “As an active NAPA member and volunteer, I’ve seen this team’s incredible work and look forward to directly contributing.”
Audrey Copeland, president and CEO of NAPA, is excited about the additions of Elam and Fort.
“NAPA is a strong organization thanks to our incredible members and staff,” Copeland says. “I have utmost confidence in Nile’s ability to lead our advocacy efforts and in Jean-Paul’s history of pavement innovation and implementation.”