Stacee Hans

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
Project Manager

As an outstanding shooter and master shot-blocker, Stacee Hans made an impressive mark on the game during her time on the Wilmington College women’s basketball team. Her records for career field goal percentage and blocked shots with the Lady Quakers remain in the record books to this day.

But Stacee’s tenacity on the court was only the beginning. Today, she is the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC)’s project manager for the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project, where she brings the leadership and team-building skills she refined on the court to the world of transportation and project management.

Tommy Arnold

Ohio Department of Transportation
Project Manager

Tommy Arnold is a Cincinnatian through and through. Outside of the time he spent earning his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at the University of Dayton, Arnold has lived in Cincinnati his entire life. Although he spent the majority of his 20-year career with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT)’s Planning Department, his fingerprints are already on Cincinnati’s roadways — Arnold was the project manager for the Interstate 71-Martin Luther King Jr. Drive interchange, the first two-step, low-bid design-build project ever constructed in Ohio.

Cory Wilson

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
Construction Lead

Cory Wilson doesn’t mind breaking a sweat or getting his hands dirty. On most weekends, you’ll find Wilson in his garage tinkering with tractors and cars, working on projects in the yard, or just watching sports.

But during the workweek, it’s a different story. That’s when Wilson plans the details for the construction of the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor project, one of the largest infrastructure projects in the country.

Originally from Butler, Kentucky, Wilson has worked for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) since graduating from the University of Kentucky in 2009. During his first nine years, he worked in various roles with KYTC District 7, including transportation engineer supervisor. He has worked in the Covington office for District 6 for the last six years and plans to spend his entire career with the Cabinet.

Scott LeBlanc

Ohio Department of Transportation
Construction Lead

Scott LeBlanc has long considered himself a “bridge guy.” That was until one day about 18 years ago when he rappelled off the Jeremiah Morrow Bridge in Warren County, Ohio. All 240 feet of it.

That’s when LeBlanc knew he wanted to be a “big bridge guy.” Emphasis on “big.” As in higher heights, longer spans and more complexity.

Bridges and bridge projects across the nation, let alone in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky, don’t get any bigger than the $3.6 billion Brent Spence Bridge Corridor (BSBC) Project. That’s why it was no surprise LeBlanc jumped at the chance to become a construction lead on the Bistate Management Team responsible for the administration and delivery of the project.

Nikki Boden, P.E., MBA

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
Design Lead

You might say engineering is in Northern Kentucky native Nikki Boden’s blood. The granddaughter of a structural engineer who built bridges throughout the United States, she gravitated toward math and science even as a child. Young Nikki knew she wanted a career field focused on those subjects, but she wasn’t sure how to begin.

Fortunately, a guidance counselor at Boone County High School told her about a civil engineering scholarship offered by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to attend the University of Kentucky. That enabled the future Wildcat to earn a degree in a field that suited her academic interests and followed in her grandfather’s footsteps. From there she went on to complete an MBA at Xavier University.

While at UK, Boden realized she was something of a trailblazer in the engineering field.

Joe Smithson

Ohio Department of Transportation
Design Lead

As a design engineer, Joe Smithson knows the importance of collaboration. Working with his construction counterparts to ensure highways can be built as designed and economically maintained is a critical part of his job.

“We’re always asking for feedback from the construction team and contractors,” Smithson says.

Smithson’s collaboration skills will be put to the test in his role as the design lead for the Ohio portion of the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor (BSBC) Project, one of the nation’s largest infrastructure projects.

“This is the project of lifetime,” Smithson says

Gary Valentine

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
Executive Advisor for the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project

A professional engineer, Gary Valentine is no stranger to multi-billion-dollar bridge projects. He served as the project manager for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet on the $2.8 billion Ohio River Bridges Project. Completed in 2016, the project included the construction of two new bridges and the renovation of a third between Louisville, Kentucky, and its Indiana suburbs.

“What I do now is take what I learned from that experience and help our project team with other major projects like the Brent Spence Bridge,” Valentine said. “But there’s only one Brent Spence Bridge Corridor (BSBC) project.”