Appointed by the three-member elected Transportation Commission, the executive director has full and general supervision over administrative
and technical matters relating to airport and port development, highway construction and maintenance, weight enforcement, public transit, and
rail safety. The executive director administers the policies approved by the Transportation Commission and prepares reports to the Legislature
and the Governor. The executive director appoints a chief engineer/deputy executive director and a director for each of the four operating offices
reporting directly to the executive director. These offices include Highways, Administrative Services, Intermodal Planning and Enforcement. The
Audit, Special Assistant Attorneys General, Information Systems and Public Affairs divisions, also report to the executive director.
Executive Director's Background History
Larry L. "Butch" Brown (Executive Director)
Larry L. "Butch" Brown Sr., of Natchez, Miss., is a longtime businessman and the former mayor of Natchez serving in that position from 1992-2000.
A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with degrees in management and marketing, he served in the school’s department of marketing and
management as an instructor for seven years. After leaving USM he continued his business ventures in the areas of transportation, warehousing, real
estate, wholesaling, and the hotel trade. He has served on the Executive Board of Directors of the Mississippi Business Finance Corporation,
White House Conference on Small Business, the US Department of Commerce-Industry Sector Advisory Committee on Trade Policy, and was a member and
former chairman of the Mississippi Louisiana Bridge Authority responsible for funding construction of the new Natchez/Mississippi River Bridge.
Awards received by Brown include the Governor’s Golden Glove; the Mississippi Volunteer of the Year Laureate; the 1996 and 2000 NLC City Cultural
Diversity Award; INC. Magazine’s INC. 500 Award, which recognizes the fastest growing privately held corporations in America; and during Brown’s
service as mayor, Natchez received several times the Most Livable Community Award given by the Mississippi Municipal Association.
Brown is married to the former Shields Godfrey and is the father of three children, Larry L. Jr., Coyle Sessions, and Caroline (deceased).
He is a member and former deacon of the First Presbyterian Church in Natchez.
Melinda McGrath (Interim Deputy Executive Director/Chief Engineer)
Brenda Vanover Znachko (Deputy Executive Director/Administration)
Brenda Vanover Znachko, J.D., LL.M., is a graduate of the University of Florida School of Law - Graduate Tax Program, University of Mississippi Law Center
and the University of Southern Mississippi, where she received a Bachelors Degree in Political Science. Upon graduation, Znachko worked for private law
firms before joining MDOT as a Special Assistant Attorney General in 2002.
Today Znachko is a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Naval Reserves, a Louisiana Board Certified Tax Attorney and a Bar Member in Mississippi, Louisiana and
Florida. She was promoted to Deputy Executive Director/Administration in July of 2004. She is a native of Gulfport but currently resides in Madison with
her husband of 20 years, Michael, and has one five year old son, Michael, Jr. Her family attends the First Baptist Church of Madison.