Maintenance Management, despite the name, isn’t just about fixing and maintaining assets. It’s about seeing the full system and all its parts, from the tasks necessary to keep things running smoothly to the people behind the scenes keeping that maintenance in motion. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Jon Arnold—Summit’s newest Transportation Manager—brings experience managing both to the table.

What drew him to our firm wasn’t just the quality of our projects, but the people behind them. Jon has worked with several members of Summit’s transportation team during his time at NCDOT, including Scott Capps, Scott Wheeler, Reid Elmore, Brad Wall, and several others. “It’s a really strong team,” he says. “Good people, great work ethic, and a good balance.” Now that he’s on the other side, he still gets to work with the familiar faces he left back at the NCDOT, building on the strong bonds our firm already has with the department.

The transition also gave Jon something he hadn’t realized he missed: the chance to be an engineer again. “I haven’t had to think like this in years,” he admits. “My last role was very personnel-focused, which meant the technical side of my brain wasn’t being used as much. It’s been great to knock the dust off and dig into the problem-solving side again.”

Before joining Summit, Jon spent most of his career with NCDOT, where he contributed to maintaining highway and airport assets across the state. Though the two sectors seem vastly different, he’s quick to point out their similarities. “At the end of the day, it’s all infrastructure—it’s all systems and people,” he says, when asked after some of the differences between maintaining the two. “Airports are just sexier.”

Still, the differences matter. Small oversights in maintenance can become big problems—especially in aviation. “Foreign object debris is a big concern on a runway,” he notes. “The smallest bit of debris can cause serious damage to engines or turn into a deadly projectile for other planes.”

His tenure at NCDOT and decades of experience have seen him through numerous changes in the industry. The biggest? “The adaptation and implementation of technology,” Jon affirms. “GIS, tablets, iPhones, etc. There is much more we can do with less.” When he first engaged with the field, this technology existed, but was not widely utilized. “Now, it is way more pervasive.”

But as some parts of the industry advance, others fall behind. “The challenge of finding the people continues,” he says. “There’s just not as much interest in construction and engineering these days.” While at NCDOT, Jon helped address this challenge head-on, having worked to develop an expedited hiring workflow in Division 5 that reduced a 6–8 week process to just 10 days in some instances. That’s the kind of problem solving we need! Jon brings valuable insight, technical depth, leadership, and a passion for problem solving to the team, and we’re eager to have him on board.