Roger Millar, FAICP

FAICP Statement

The prominent theme that has run through Roger Millar’s career has been planning transportation systems that are not ends unto themselves; but rather the means toward economic vitality, environmental stewardship, social equity, public health, and aesthetic quality. His work on the Portland Streetcar and the Glenwood Springs to Aspen BRT provided communities nationwide with new modal tools. His Complete Streets leadership helped create a national movement for transportation systems that are safe, convenient, and pleasant for all users, regardless of how they choose to travel. His State DOT leadership is bringing innovation to agencies with enormous influence on transportation investment.

Professional Biography

Roger Millar is the Secretary of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), serving as the chief executive officer for a multimodal transportation agency of approximately 6,800 employees statewide and an annual budget of $3.6 billion.

Roger is an experienced land use and transportation engineer, planner, and program manager with an international reputation for innovative approaches to conservation and development. The prominent theme that has run through his career has been planning and implementing transportation systems that are not ends unto themselves; but rather the means toward economic vitality, environmental stewardship, social equity, public health, and aesthetic quality. His work on the Portland Streetcar and the Glenwood Springs to Aspen Bus Rapid Transit system provided communities nationwide with new modal tools. His Complete Streets leadership helped create a national movement for transportation systems that are safe, convenient, and pleasant for all users, regardless of how they choose to travel. His State DOT leadership is bringing innovation to agencies with enormous influence on transportation investment.

Prior to joining WSDOT, Roger served as Vice President of Smart Growth America. In that role he was Director of the Smart Growth America’s Leadership Institute, which provides technical assistance programs for state and local government, and Director of the National Complete Streets Coalition. Roger has held other leadership positions in the public and private sectors, as Manager of the City of Portland, Oregon’s Arterial Streets Division in the 1980s, as Deputy City Manager and Community Development Director for McCall, Idaho, and more recently as Director of the Missoula, Montana Office of Planning and Grants.

Roger is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a Certified Floodplain Manager. He is also Past President of the Montana Association of Planners. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1982. Roger lives in Olympia, WA and is married to Candis Millar, the Chair of the Olympia Planning Commission an retired Planning Director of the City of Billings, MT. He has two grown children and a Chocolate Lab named “Luke.”