DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson announces new members of executive staff
Wednesday, October 25, 2017 at 9:18:44 AM
BATON ROUGE, La. – Today, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) Secretary Shawn Wilson, Ph.D., announced two new members of his executive staff. Vince Latino will be the next Secretary of Operations, and Christopher P. Knotts will be the next Chief Engineer. Latino has held the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Operations since 2016 and is replacing Kirk Gallien, who is returning to his hometown of Monroe to be closer to his family. Knotts has held the position of Chief of Public Works and Water Resources for the past five years and is replacing Janice Williams, who is retiring in January.
“We at DOTD are excited about having these two gentlemen move into these positions,” said Secretary Wilson. “Both are proven leaders who have fulfilled all their roles here competently and with great integrity. I want to thank both Kirk and Janice for their service to the citizens of Louisiana and DOTD. I have the utmost confidence that the offices Vince and Chris will lead is going to be in great hands under their leadership.”
Latino graduated from LSU with a degree in electrical engineering and started his career at DOTD immediately after. He worked in bridge maintenance, concentrating on movable bridges, pumping stations, and tunnels. He was promoted to head of maintenance systems management and held that position until being promoted to Chief Maintenance Engineer, overseeing all of DOTD’s maintenance sections and statewide maintenance policy. Latino became Deputy Assistant Secretary of Operations over all districts in 2016.
Knotts earned bachelor’s degrees in engineering technology and civil engineering from Louisiana State University and a master’s in civil engineering from The University of Texas at Arlington. He is a licensed professional civil engineer in Louisiana with over 33 years of experience, of which more than 20 years are in state service. Knotts is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a member of the Louisiana Engineering Society, and currently serves on the Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board.