Former DOT chief joins infrastructure investment firm

Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is joining an investment firm known as Meridiam that focuses on partnering with government officials to build large infrastructure projects, the company announced on Tuesday.

The company, which has offices in Paris and New York, has been involved in financing U.S. projects such the extension of the North Tarrant Expressway in Dallas and the construction of a new highway near the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco called the Presidio Parkway. 

The company said Tuesday that it was glad to have LaHood on board. 

{mosads}“We are honored Secretary LaHood has decided to join Meridiam,” the company’s CEO, Theirry Deau, said in a statement. 

“His broad experience in transportation and infrastructure in the United States will be a value asset to the company,” Deau continued. 

Officials who depart the Obama administration are required to wait two years before they can register as a lobbyist for firms that are related to their areas of expertise. LaHood was Transportation secretary from 2009 to 2013. 

Meridiam said Monday that he would be a “senior adviser.” 

The company has previously hired former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Jane Garvey, who was FAA administrator at the end of President Clinton’s tenure and the beginning of President George W. Bush’s time in office. 

Prior to serving as President Obama’s first-term Transportation secretary, LaHood was a member of Congress from 1995 to 2009.