In early 2019, Tim J. Gatz was appointed Secretary of Transportation by Gov. Kevin Stitt and the Oklahoma Transportation Commission named him Oklahoma Department of Transportation Executive Director, effective April 1, 2019.
Prior to that appointment, Gatz was named the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority in 2016 and previously served more than two decades at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
Tim started his career at ODOT as a Drafting Technician in 1990. Then in 1992, he became the Enhancements Program Coordinator and moved up to Special Projects Manager in 1997. In 2000, he became Division Manager of the Project Management Division where he was instrumental in the development of ODOT’s Eight-year Construction Work Plan.
Gatz was promoted to the Senior Staff position of Director of Capital Programs and Information Management in 2006 and led the department’s coordination with county governments to develop and deliver the County Improvements for Roads and Bridges Program which provides dedicated funds for high-priority county transportation projects statewide. He served as Deputy Director from 2013 until his appointment to OTA in 2016.
Tim earned a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture from Oklahoma State University in 1989 and is a registered professional landscape architect. He has received several honors including the Oklahoma Good Roads & Transportation Association’s Bill Skeith Stewardship Award, the Governor’s Public Service Award and the Federal Highway Administration’s Partners In Quality Award. He is a member of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association and the American Society of Landscape Architects.
Tim and his wife, Sandy, live in El Reno and have two sons.