June 19, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or by email at iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com. 

Board Approves Stroger Candidate for County Highway Superintendent  

Rupert Graham first African American to serve as head of multi-million dollar agency.

See below for high-resolution photo.

June 19, 2007 – The Cook County Board today approved Board President Todd H. Stroger's proposed appointment of Rupert F. Graham, Jr., P.E.,  as the new Cook County Highway Superintendent. He'll serve as the County's first African American Highway Superintendent, a role he has held as interim Superintendent since the previous appointee, Wally Kos, retired late last year.
 
Graham has over thirty years of professional experience, including over twenty years of service with municipal, county, and state infrastructure projects, primarily while he was in the consulting engineering arena. His background includes experience with several civil engineering firms, including two African American-owned companies, F. E. Jordan Associates and Jackson, Tull & Graham, Inc., the latter in which he served as principle partner in the Chicago office. In addition he also worked for Lucent Technologies and the Chicago Department of Water Management. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 1973 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master's Degree in 1974 in structural engineering from the same institution.

Since he joined the Highway Department in 2006, Graham has worked to improve communications and working relationships between the department's Equipment and Road Maintenance Divisions, create a system of computerized equipment work order requests that help track the status of equipment, implement a computerized system for configuring Road Maintenance Snow Patrols for each Maintenance District, and document procedures to allow a more uniform approach for snow removal. Graham has also promoted a more aggressive computer training program for the Maintenance Bureau, and has overseen the beginning of a pilot roadbuilding program that utilizes recycled tires in repaving projects, a multi-agency effort that is expected to take thousands of tires – and the environmental challenges they pose – out of the waste stream.
 
"Rupert Graham's formidable technical skills and grasp of new technology make him a perfect fit in our efforts to modernize policies and procedures in the Highway Department," said President Stroger. "He comes with outstanding academic and professional credentials, and the ability to recognize the Highway Department's strengths and inspire staff to sharpen their effectiveness in key areas."
 
Graham will oversee one of the largest roadbuilding and infrastructure maintenance operations in the region. In the past five years, Cook County has designed, let, and awarded $375 million in highway construction contracts. That includes $80 million in projects scheduled for the 2007 season, and $330 million in projects for the four-year period between 2006 and 2010.

For more information, contact Ibis Antongiorgi, Press Secretary to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger, at 312-603-0396 or iantongiorgi@cookcountygov.com. 

# # #