Pam Lowe, director of the Idaho Transportation Department, is a professional engineer who was ITD's first female district engineer when she was named to that post in 2000. She first joined ITD in 1993 as a construction associate; became planning services manager in 1995 and regional engineer in 1997. She was named administrator of the Department of Motor Vehicles in 2004, then deputy director of ITD in 2006, and was named ITD director on Jan. 16, 2007.

She's also worked for the Arizona Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, and in the private sector. She is a registered professional engineer in Idaho, Oregon and Arizona. Gov. Butch Otter affectionately calls her "Pammy."

Lowe took over as director from interim director Dwight Bower, who first headed the department from 1993 to 2003 and then was replaced by David Ekern. Ekern lasted just three years, leaving Aug. 18, 2006 amid controversy over a report about sagging morale at the department as it moved in new directions including into a major bond-financed highway construction program. The board, under then-Gov. Jim Risch, appointed Bower to take over in the interim before Lowe was named to the post. Ekern subsequently became head of the Virginia Department of Transportation.

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