Jim H. Trogdon, III – Chief Deputy Secretary of Operations

Jim Trogdon, a registered professional engineer with 27 years of experience in the transportation field, was named NCDOT’s Chief Operations Officer in 2009. He has been a key leader in the department’s effort to professionalize its decision-making process and become a performance-based organization with an emphasis on accountability and transparency.

His prior experience comes from NCDOT as well as the private and academic sectors on issues related to transportation. His NCDOT career began in 1985 as a highway engineer. In 2000, Trogdon was named NCDOT’s Division 4 Engineer, overseeing highway maintenance, construction and operations within six counties (Edgecombe, Halifax, Johnston, Nash, Wayne and Wilson), consisting of 6,000 miles of highways, 1,200 bridges, and 850 employees. Trogdon later worked with the N.C. General Assembly as Director of Strategic Transportation Planning. In this role he made recommendations and provided analysis on transportation issues, as well as drafting transportation legislation for General Assembly members and reviewing transportation programs and projects for effectiveness.

In addition, Trogdon has more than three decades of military service. His duties included serving as the Plans Officer for road and school construction in Honduras and Ecuador, as well as infrastructure improvements in Italy. After being selected to command the 105th Engineer Group, his unit was mobilized during the Global War on Terror to provide command and control for security forces at U.S. Army installations throughout North Carolina and Virginia. His unit was again mobilized in 2006 during Operation Iraqi Freedom as the Multi-National Division North Engineer Brigade to command and control two engineer battalions, and provide assured mobility and general engineering support within northern Iraq. Major General Trogdon now serves as the Deputy Adjutant General for the N.C. National Guard.

He earned a Masters of Strategic Studies at the U.S. Army War College, a Masters in Civil Engineering with a minor in statistics and computer science at N.C. State and a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering at N.C. State.