Pa. Turnpike Commission names Roger Nutt its new CEO

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission on Tuesday named Roger E. Nutt as its new chief executive officer.

Nutt is the father of Gov. Corbett's campaign manager and former chief of staff, Brian Nutt. The elder Nutt, of Vero Beach, Fla., is a former transportation official for New Jersey.

The new turnpike chief executive will be paid $196,700 a year. He replaces Joseph Brimmeier, who resigned in January.

Nutt, 70, was executive director of the New Jersey Highway Authority, which operated the Garden State Parkway, from April 1994 to September 1994, and executive director of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority from October 1994 to September 1995. He also was project director of the $330 million tunnel project built 10 years ago to link the Atlantic City Expressway to the city's Marina District and the bridge to Brigantine Island. He worked as executive director of the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority and as executive director of New Jersey Transit.

He retired to Florida seven years ago.

His son, Brian Nutt, ran Corbett's successful campaign for governor, and Corbett appointed him as his chief of staff Dec. 7. Later that month, though, Nutt withdrew to join the political-consulting firm of Brabender Cox, which handled the media for Corbett's gubernatorial campaign and his two campaigns for attorney general. Nutt, who was chief of staff in the Attorney General's Office and chief of staff of the Corbett transition team, continues to act as the governor's chief political strategist.

"Roger is a transportation-industry professional with nearly three decades of executive-level experience in highway, transit and tolling organizations," said turnpike commission chairman William K. Lieberman in a statement. "As such, he makes an outstanding choice for the next chief executive of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and we're quite fortunate to have him on board."

Nutt will move to Pennsylvania, and he is to assume his new responsibilities on March 21, the turnpike commission said.

"I join the commission at an interesting time in its 70-year history, when people rightfully have higher expectations of government to perform better while spending less," Nutt said in a statement. "The commission must intensify efforts to cut costs and leverage technology if it's to succeed in its mission of enhancing mobility and safety across Pennsylvania."