Julie Lorenz

Senior Managing Consultant

About Julie

Julie is a pragmatic senior managing consultant at 1898 & Co., specializing in providing top-level advisory services to position leaders and their organizations to accomplish long-term strategic goals while at the same time turning around poor performing units, when needed. With over 25 years of industry experience, Julie is recognized as a national leader in policy development, collaboration and scenario planning. Julie has moved seamlessly from public and private sector leadership roles.

Between building the strategic consulting and engagement services for the Transportation Group at Burns & McDonnell and then joining 1898 & Co., Julie served four years as the secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) and director of the Kansas Turnpike Authority. After being appointed in January 2019, she implemented statewide transformations, including the turnaround of KDOT, which delivered a 300% increase in construction and improved safety by driving down worker comp costs by 45%. She spearheaded the creation of the $10 billion Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program with huge bipartisan approval; led the Kansas Recovery Office, which administered over $1 billion in CARES Act COVID-19 relief funding in six months; and stood up the Kansas IIJA Infrastructure Hub. She was honored to receive the George S. Bartlett Award for leading development of a national vision for transportation for state DOTs, which was unanimously approved by all 52 state and territory departments of transportation in October 2022.

How Julie helps her clients
Julie’s an organizational psychologist by training. She plays the long game and is mission-driven. After helping set the vision and over-arching principles, she surveys the internal and external landscape, assesses organization and community capacity, and identifies the sequential changes necessary to succeed today and tomorrow. From leading multiyear culture change efforts to delivering 20+ years of successful consulting projects for exacting clients, she delivers on the vision by delivering on the details.

What motivates Julie
With her deep sense of public sector principles and private sector urgency, she navigates complex landscapes to deliver results. Julie has a passion for client service and an entrepreneurial spirit. She understands and has deployed the power and purpose of vision, and knows how to facilitate collaborations to develop novel approaches to our most difficult problems. As a frequently requested speaker, Julie communicates vision through compelling storytelling, using history, data and an earnest, open-minded approach.

A little about Julie
Clients appreciate Julie’s community engagement, which includes serving as a Commissioner on the Kansas City Area Transit Authority. Outside of her professional work, Julie loves to skim business and nonfiction books and invest real time in reading outstanding fiction. She indulges herself in jogging half-marathons in beautiful locations and loves to travel. Julie and her husband, Steve, have two (mostly) grown daughters.

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Specialties

Process & Performance Management

Infrastructure Modernization

Strategic Asset Management

Project Planning & Development

Regulatory Support