Gov. Doug Ducey has appointed Sam Elters, a transportation engineer with more than 30 years of experience in planning, design, construction and operations, to serve on the Arizona State Transportation Board.

Elters, who is senior vice president and national director of transportation of Matrix Design Group Inc. of Phoenix, will serve on the seven-member panel upon confirmation by the state Senate. He will succeed Joseph E. LaRue, who served as the board's chairman in the final year of his term.

State Transportation Board members prioritize transportation needs, projects and funding on behalf of communities throughout Arizona. Each serves a six-year term.

Elters' transportation experience spans the public and private sectors and includes serving as the Arizona Department of Transportation's state engineer from 2005 to 2008. He also has served as a chief engineer for the Transportation Corridor Agencies providing toll roads in Orange County, Calif.

Elters has been in Arizona since 1981 and has been a resident of Maricopa County since 2005.

“It is an honor and a privilege to serve on the State Transportation Board,” Elters said. “I look forward to collaborating and working with the other board members and the Arizona Department of Transportation to promote and advance transportation solutions that will energize Arizona's economy and enhance our quality of life.”

Meanwhile, William F. Cuthbertson, a Freeport McMoran civil engineer who is from Greenlee County's York Valley near Duncan, has been named chairman of the State Transportation Board.

For more information, visit aztransportationboard.gov.