Shuster Announces New Committee Staff

Press Release

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bill Shuster today announced the appointments of five new senior staff to help lead the Committee's policy, oversight and outreach efforts in the 113th Congress.

"These new additions to the Committee staff bring an array of experience and talents to strengthen our team, and I am confident they will help advance the Committee's goal of improving our infrastructure for a more efficient, more competitive and more prosperous America," Shuster said.

Shuster announced the following staff appointments:

Murphie Barrett has joined the Committee as a Professional Staff Member of the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, focusing on the Federal-aid Highway Program. Barrett comes from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where she advised Ranking Member James Inhofe on surface transportation issues and the Federal-aid Highway Program, as well as water resources issues and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program. She negotiated Senate provisions and amendments for the surface transportation reauthorization bill, MAP-21, which was enacted into law last year. She was also the lead Republican staff negotiator for the Water Resources Development Act.

Previously, Barrett was a Senior Manager in the Congressional & Public Affairs Division of the U.S Chamber of Commerce and she served as the organization's policy expert on marine transportation issues.

Clare Doherty has joined the staff as Director of Budget and Program Analysis. She brings to the Committee 16 years of in-depth experience working with the federal budget process for various agencies. Most recently she served for five years as Senior Advisor to the Department of Transportation Chief Financial Officer. In this capacity, she served as Departmental expert on budgetary scoring and loan requests, providing guidance on creditworthiness and budgetary implications of loan applications before the Department and providing oversight of high profile projects and Full Funding Grant Agreements for transit projects.

Doherty also previously served as the Department of the Interior's Deputy Director of the Office of Budget, as Program Examiner for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and as Budget Analyst for the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Kimberly Moore has been appointed the Committee's Counsel for Oversight & Investigations. She has served for over four years as Attorney-Advisor in the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of the General Counsel, where she was the lead staff attorney in procurement matters in the Office of the Secretary. She has also served since July 2012 as the Department's Federal Accountability Officer for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA). In this capacity, she was charged by the Secretary with promoting a culture of compliance and accountability at MWAA and overseeing and approving policy revisions related to procurement, ethics, travel, personnel, human resources and governance.

In addition, Moore was a prosecutor with the Commonwealth of Virginia in Portsmouth, and litigated numerous trials in narcotics, homicides, fraud and property crimes, and violent crimes.

Beth Spivey is joining the Committee as Director of Outreach and Coalitions. She comes to the Committee from Rapiscan Systems, where she has served as the security technology company's Vice President for Legislative Affairs since 2007. Her responsibilities included developing and executing the company's government affairs strategies and, as part of the parent company's crisis management team, leading negotiations with the Executive Branch and Congress. She also worked with her colleagues to establish a coalition of senior executives of the largest global security technology companies to enhance industry advocacy.

From 1997 to 2007, Spivey was Senior Policy Advisor for former U.S. Senator and Majority Leader Trent Lott, focused on transportation, homeland security, telecommunications, energy and the environment. She was the Senator's lead staffer for various transportation related measures, including the previous completed FAA reauthorization (Vision-100), the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act, and the Energy Policy Act of 2002.

Matt Sturges has been appointed Director of Member Services for the Committee. In the 112th Congress, Sturges served as Legislative Director for Congressman and Transportation Committee Member Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania, including advising the Congressman on transportation, energy, labor, and environmental policy.

Sturges also has experience working for the House Republican Conference under Chairman Deborah Pryce. In his outreach position, he was responsible for establishing and managing GOP Member coalitions for the Conference. In addition, Sturges was Deputy Director of Government Affairs and chief liaison to the House of Representatives for the Republican National Committee, and was a consultant for an institutional fundraiser.

Source