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Veteran MDOT leader reflects on a rich career in state government

Dec. 10, 2025

Laura Mester, who has served as the chief administrative officer at the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) since 2011, is retiring from state government in January. She joined the podcast to reflect on her career in state government, including the past 15 years at MDOT.

Mester talks about her perceptions of the department before she joined, and what she learned about the need for a multimodal focus to serve all users. She also discusses the challenges facing the department with decades of inadequate funding to do all the things the public expects.

In her role, she oversaw the Bureau of Finance and the Office of Passenger Transportation, which (among other things) oversees and supports the state’s transit agencies, including the Office of Rail.

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Listen now at buzzsprout.com/1374205. 
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