[1] Mendez was previously Director of the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), beginning in November 2001.

He was later named deputy state engineer with ADOT's Valley Transportation Group, where he provided leadership for the Phoenix area's multibillion-dollar freeway system.

[3] In 2006, Mendez was elected president of both the Western Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), its national counterpart.

In 2011, he signed the first Memorandum of Cooperation with the Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories.

Before joining ADOT, Mendez worked for the U.S. Forest Service as an engineer in Oregon.