Hello NLTAPA Membership,
As incoming President I am honored, privileged and excited to be the President of the National Local Technical Assistance Program Association (NLTAPA). It is a great time to begin in this position and I am very fortunate to be succeeding our successful out-going President James Martin from North Carolina LTAP. NLTAPA has matured over the past year has been left in a good position within the transportation community.
First off, I would like to share a few things about myself. I have been with MN LTAP at the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota since June 2001. Twenty-one days later, as the MN LTAP Technology Transfer Engineer, I attended my first LTAP/TTAP National Conference in Florida. In 2005 I moved into the position of Program Director for MN LTAP, started working with the NLTAPA Partnership Work Group, represented Region 5 on the NLTAPA Executive Committee and was elected Vice President of NLTAPA in July of 2010.
I feel the most important part of our association is to keep moving our main objectives forward. For those that do not remember, NLTAPA's main objectives are:
- Build awareness about LTAP in the transportation community
- Assist FHWA with developing strategies for the Program
- Build the capacity of each Center to best meet the needs of its customers
I look forward to working with the NLTAPA EC to keep these objectives on track and over the next year NLTAPA leadership will move these objectives forward while focusing in the following areas:
Communication: It will be a priority for NLTAPA Leadership to communicate with NLTAPA members, friends and partners. But it should be an equal priority for NLTAPA members, friends and partners to communicate with NLTAPA Leadership
Partnerships: NLTAPA Leadership will continue to evaluate and renew current partnerships with NACE, APWA and AASHTO along with assessing new partnerships that could benefit our association's main objectives.
Membership Participation: Increasing NLTAPA membership participation in work groups, task force, and other key initiatives is important to sustain our association and move our main objectives forward in the future.
Association Excellence: Evaluating the services the association provides, focusing on efficiently doing our association business and aligning our efforts to better meet our main objectives.
It took me awhile, perhaps 4 or 5 years, to understand NLTAPA and to realize that NLTAPA and the LTAP program are trusted and valued resources that provide technical assistance to local and tribal agencies in our nation. As President I look forward to keeping our association moving in this direction and helping make it sustainable for the future.
Regards,
James (Jim) Grothaus