Cardinal Infrastructure open for business

Three former transportation industry officials and government affairs professionals have joined forces to form Cardinal Infrastructure. The Washington, D.C.-based firm will “provide comprehensive strategic advisory services to private and public sector clients seeking to navigate the highly challenging and rapidly evolving business, regulatory, and legislative world.”

Former Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Acting Administrator Sherry E. Little, former FTA Chief Counsel Severn E. S. Miller and long-time transportation advocate Anja Graves have founded the new venture. They “possess a combined 75-plus years’ experience and working knowledge required to address the conditions of today’s business and federal climate, while also looking down the road,” Cardinal said. “They are equipped to advise clients on a full range of essential services, from federal policy and planning solutions, to financing and strategic risk assessments, contracting, procurement, construction and operation of infrastructure projects, assistance navigating the complex regulations and procedures of the federal government, to obtaining and expediting Federal grants, permits and approvals. Cardinal Infrastructure delivers value-added cost savings and pragmatic management counsel, as well as guidance on the effects of government policies, regulations, and statutory requirements on the infrastructure and municipal landscape.”

Sherry E. Little has been helping private and public sector clients develop funding and financing strategies for the past eight years. Previously, she was appointed by President George W. Bush as Deputy Administrator and Acting Administrator of the FTA from February 2007 to January 2009. During her tenure, Little took the lead in helping FTA to implement its regulatory and legislative agenda and recruited private-sector participation in public-private partnerships to help finance public transportation partnerships nationwide. She formerly served as a senior staff member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, where she authored the Senate’s version of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act (SAFETEA) of 2005.

For the past eight years, Severn Miller has provided legal advice on the federal process. Before that he served as FTA Chief Counsel. Miller has more than 21 years of relevant broad-based legal and strategic counseling experience, with extensive legal expertise in the transit industry. His counsel includes legal and policy analysis and advice on transit-related legal and funding issues, Federal compliance and procurement, technical capacity, and mitigation of organizational risk. He educates and advises transit boards and transit authority staff on a wide spectrum of vital services, from initial policy and planning considerations, to financing and risk assessment, contracting and procurement in connection with infrastructure projects nationwide. He offers intelligent application of, and suggests methods of compliance with, federal laws and regulations and other legal requirements.

Anja Graves has more than 15 years of experience managing federal relations work for various transportation agencies and municipalities throughout the nation. She has assisted clients in securing billions in federal funding and helped navigate and accelerate the federal process. Formerly, Graves held a position in the Secretary’s Office at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Working closely with former Secretaries Andrew Cuomo and Mel Martinez, she managed procurement and budgeting processes, contracts and grants, project evaluations and was liaison to the White House and Office of Management and Budget. She has expertise in local and state government through her work as a planner for the City of San Jose as well as an environmental advocate working for the powerful Silicon Valley Leadership Group in California.