thoughtleaders
BY MARK B. SOLOMON, SENIOR EDITOR
eyes on the roads
At the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, transport infrastructure
is the playing field for the high-
stakes game of economic growth
and job creation. And the
Chamber is counting on Janet
Kavinoky to carry the ball.
interview with Janet Kavinoky
THERE MAY BE PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON THESE DAYS WITH
fuller plates than Janet F. Kavinoky, but they might be hard to find.
As the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s transportation
infrastructure programs as well as the group’s Americans for
Kavinoky spoke recently with
DC VELOCITY Senior Editor Mark
B. Solomon at the Chamber’s
Washington headquarters about
her dual roles as policymaker and
lobbyist, the importance of freight
interests in driving the debate over infrastructure spending, and the challenges and
opportunities of working with Donohue, one
of the nation’s most powerful trade association
chiefs and one who doesn’t suffer fools gladly.
QHow did you find yourself at the Chamber, as well as in the transportation field?
AI’ve been at the Chamber for four years, and I got an acci- dental start in transportation 15 years ago. I got a job at
the Department of Transportation, and they stuck me in the policy
office and said I was going to work on ISTEA [Intermodal Surface
Transportation Efficiency Act] reauthorization. And I wrote down
