Shoshana Lew


Shoshana M. Lew is a career government administrator currently serving as the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Transportation. She is the daughter of former United States Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew.

Career

The Colorado Senate confirmed Lew's appointment to the position of Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Transportation on February 5, 2019.
Prior to heading the Colorado Department of Transportation, Lew worked from April 2017 to January 2019 as the Chief Operating Officer of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.
Before her appointment to Rhode Island's Department of Transportation, Lew worked for eight years in the Obama Administration. The federal government positions she held were Chief Financial Officer, U.S. Department of Transportation, Assistant Secretary for Budget and Programs, U.S. Department of Transportation, Senior Adviser, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and Policy Adviser, White House Domestic Policy Council.
Lew's first position after she completed her graduate degree was at the Brookings Institution, where she served as Policy Analyst and Research and Policy Assistant in the organization's Metropolitan Policy Program from 2007-2009.

Education

Lew earned a bachelor's degree in History from Harvard College and a master's degree in American history from Northwestern University.

Criticism

In Colorado, Lew has been criticized for focusing too much on non-highway transportation projects such as bike lanes, large buses, walking paths, light rail, and electric vehicles, with insufficient emphasis placed on roads and highways. Some have questioned Lew's qualifications for the position, for she was hired for the job at age 35 with no experience in construction management or engineering. Indeed, one report states that Colorado Governor Jared Polis appointed Lew to head the Colorado Department of Transportation as a personal favor to Michelle Obama. Under Lew's leadership, CDOT has been criticized for adding only expensive toll lanes in highway-widening projects. These so-called Lexus lanes are paid for with tax dollars but only benefit the wealthy who can afford the tolls. One analysis says that "Lew's plan is to make driving in Colorado so painful that many average Coloradoans will abandon their cars in favor of a public transit alternative."