A house RESOLUTION

TO HONOR THE OUTSTANDING CAREER AND SERVICE OF CHRISTY A. HALL, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION for THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, AND TO EXTEND BEST WISHES TO HER ON HER WELL-EARNED RETIREMENT.

Whereas, the Honorable Christy A. Hall, P.E., a native of the Nations community in rural Abbeville County, was born the eldest child of Steve and Joyce Hall. She grew up in an environment that placed high value on family, faith, friendships, and hard work. Excelling in academics, she graduated in 1994 from Clemson University with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering at a time when very few women were entering the engineering profession. During her senior year at Clemson, the young Christy caught the eye of Darlene Rikard, lead recruiter for the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), and was offered a job with the department straight out of college. After joining the department in 1994, she built strong working relationships in nearly every area of the agency, which would prove exceedingly useful later in her career as agency head; and

Whereas, as program manager, she managed major road and bridge projects, including more than $1 billion in "27 in 7" projects. In 2011, she was called back to agency headquarters to serve as deputy secretary for finance and procurement to manage the department's cash-flow crisis. She led her team to revise the agency's business practices, eliminate redundant and inefficient processes, implement proper financial controls, and establish strong management of the agency's financials. In 2015, she became the first woman to serve as deputy secretary for engineering in the history of the SCDOT and was honored to lead the SCDOT Engineering Division in migrating to performance-based management as additional road funding was first being debated by the General Assembly; and

Whereas, after Christy Hall had served twice as acting secretary of transportation, Governor Nikki Haley appointed her as secretary of transportation because of Ms. Hall's outstanding leadership in response to the 1,000-year flood of 2015. Ms. Hall also has enjoyed strong working relationships with Governor Henry McMaster, the SCDOT Commission, the South Carolina General Assembly, federal officials, local officials, other state DOT directors, manufacturing and business entities, transportation industry partners and advocates, TeamSC, and, most importantly, the employees of the SCDOT; and

Whereas, during her tenure as secretary of transportation, she has seen multiple hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, snow and ice storms, and other emergency events, such as tanker fires, bridge closures, the first-ever reversal of the lanes of I-26 to evacuate the coastal area, and a global pandemic. Through it all, she has led the department's efforts with a calm, steady hand; and

Whereas, through her visionary leadership and drive for success, she earned the trust and respect of the General Assembly, which ultimately culminated in a major funding boost for infrastructure in the State and the development and implementation of a plan to transform the condition and operation of the surface transportation network for South Carolina; and

Whereas, under her leadership, our tax dollars have been put to work, which has resulted in South Carolina's road and bridge construction program growing from $1 billion annually to nearly $6 billion, bringing improvement to our roads and bridges across the State; and

Whereas, throughout her career, she has kept the agency's employees close to her heart, as evidenced by her commitment to them, whether it was establishing a nonprofit organization to help injured employees in their time of greatest need, creating a memorial wall to remember fallen employees of the agency, implementing a complete restructuring of the operating model and pay structure for the workforce, or re-establishing a tailored leadership development program for the SCDOT; and

Whereas, her many awards include the Order of the Palmetto, conferred by Governor Nikki Haley, and she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work with South Carolina ETV. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, honor the outstanding career and service of Christy A. Hall, secretary of transportation for the State of South Carolina, and extend best wishes to her on her well-earned retirement.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Christy A. Hall.

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