BATON ROUGE, La. – Today, Gov. John Bel Edwards named Dr. Eric Kalivoda as Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development to replace Dr. Shawn Wilson, who is retiring on March 4th after 7 years of service as secretary. Dr. Kalivoda has served as Deputy Secretary at DOTD for the past 13 years.

“I want to thank Dr. Kalivoda for his willingness to fill this role,” said Gov. Edwards. “Under the leadership of Dr. Shawn Wilson, DOTD has had historic success, and I know that will continue under Dr. Kalivoda. There are currently more DOTD projects underway than ever before. We are tackling major projects that Louisianans could previously only dream of, taking full advantage of unprecedented opportunities to upgrade our infrastructure, grow our economy, and improve quality of life for our people.”

“Having worked alongside Eric for more than a decade, I can say with the utmost confidence that there is no one better prepared to fill this role,” said outgoing DOTD Secretary Shawn D. Wilson, Ph.D. “Eric has the experience and dedication needed to continue our work making crucial, major improvements to our state’s network of roads, bridges, ports, rail and more.”

“I am grateful that Gov. Edwards has chosen me to lead DOTD,” said Secretary Eric Kalivoda, Ph.D., P.E. “I am confident that my years of experience within the department have prepared me for this opportunity. Luckily, I take over a department filled with hardworking men and women who are excited to continue bringing world-class infrastructure improvements to the people of our state.”