Known for her depth of experience and collaborative leadership, Heather Catron has been promoted to HDR’s federal transportation director from her previous position as transportation environmental services director. A vice president with the company, she has been with HDR for four years and is based in the Portland, Oregon office.
Catron will promote business growth within HDR’s federal transportation program, which currently include six prime Federal Highway Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation contracts. The firm is also engaged in award-winning rail, aviation and maritime projects for Department of Defense, National Park Service and Department of Homeland Security customers around the world. Her responsibilities include business and staff development, operations support and strategy implementation.
Catron has been involved in some of HDR’s most exciting recent projects, including: Virginia’s environmental evaluation and conceptual design of 123 miles of high-speed rail between Richmond, VA, and Washington, D.C.; and one of HDR’s early alternative delivery projects, the Oregon Bridge Delivery Program. She also serves in leadership roles for Oregon’s Burnside Bridge Seismic Feasibility Study and for the SR 520 Bridge and HOV Program, which reaches a significant milestone April 2 with the grand opening of the world’s largest floating bridge.
“Heather’s leadership on some of our highest-profile projects — some of the most challenging transportation projects going on anywhere — has contributed to our success across the entire project-development continuum,” said Rick Pilgrim, HDR’s transportation market sector development director. “Heather exemplifies HDR’s reputation for world-class innovation and collaboration. These attributes will serve her well in this new role.”
Catron brings more than 23 years of industry experience. She is a former program manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation and draws on her extensive consulting background focused largely on bridges and highways. She is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, in which she served as a cryptologist, and she has managed megaprojects, as well as alternative delivery, government relations, planning and sustainability efforts.
Catron serves on two Transportation Research Board advisory panels, which are setting standards for managing risk and integrating environmentally preferable and sustainable practices. She is a past member of the TRB expert task group for community visioning and collaborative decision making. An active member of, and fundraiser for WTS International, Catron also sits on the Legislative Committee for the Oregon chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies.
