Steven Frankel
U.S. Department of Transportation
2024 fellow
Steven Frankel has been the Budget Director at the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, since 2017.
As a White House Leadership Development Program (WHLDP) Fellow, Mr. Frankel will work on the Performance Team in the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Performance and Personnel Management. He is particularly interested in strategic planning and organizational health and performance due to their nexus with budget formulation.
Mr. Frankel would like to learn how to leverage his leadership skills to support important cross-agency initiatives, allowing the government to take advantage of the ways agencies can complement one another and improve efficiency. He brings with him significant experience working both internally across FHWA offices and with a multitude of external stakeholders including state governments, other federal agencies, and Congress.
Mr. Frankel is looking forward to the opportunity to network with his WHLDP peers and engage in leadership development sessions, which will support his desire to continue federal service and join the Senior Executive Service.
Mr. Frankel started with FHWA’s Office of Budget in 2007 as a Program Analyst in the Presidential Management Fellows Program and then advanced to positions of greater responsibility and leadership within the office such as Senior Budget Analyst and Team Lead.
As Budget Director, he oversees two teams with a total of 15 employees responsible for the complex budget formulation, distribution of funding, and budget execution of programs with annual funding of over $70 billion. He recently led his office in the development and implementation of key aspects of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides $350 billion over six years for critical highway and bridge projects.
Other notable accomplishments include strengthening management of the agency’s General Operating Expenses, rapidly distributing $10 billion provided by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, and spearheading FHWA’s part in a government-wide effort to report on and address open grant awards past their period of performance.
Outside of work, Mr. Frankel enjoys traveling (hopefully to Italy this year), trying new restaurants in Washington, D.C., and reading sci-fi novels.
