Paul A. Mattox, Jr., P.E., served as West Virginia Commissioner of Highways starting in January
2005 and was appointed acting Cabinet Secretary of the West Virginia Department of
Transportation in January 2006. In June 2006, he assumed the dual roles of Cabinet Secretary
and Commissioner of Highways, appointed by Governor Joe Manchin III and reappointed by
Governor Earl Ray Tomblin. Mattox held these positions until his retirement in January 2017,
making him the longest-serving Transportation Secretary and Highways Commissioner in West
Virginia’s history. He began his career with the Division of Highways as a co-op student in 1979,
remaining with the agency until 1987, and later worked with Woolpert, RPM Engineers, PLLC,
E. L. Robinson Engineering Co., and CTL Engineering.
Mattox holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the WVU Institute of Technology and a M.S. in
Engineering from Marshall University. He is a registered professional engineer in West Virginia,
Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, Florida and Alabama, as well as a registered professional land
surveyor in West Virginia.
He has held key leadership positions within the American Association of State Highway
Transportation Officials (AASHTO), including Chairman of the Standing Committee on Aviation,
Executive Committee member and Board of Directors member. He also co-chaired the
AASHTO/Federal Highway Administration/American Council of Engineering Companies
Committee and served as President of the Southern Association of State Highway
Transportation Officials (SASHTO) from 2015 to 2016, presiding over their annual meeting at
The Greenbrier. He has also served as President of the West Virginia Society of Civil Engineers
and is a graduate of Leadership West Virginia.
A career highlight for Mattox was delivering the commencement address to the 2013 graduating
class of his alma mater, WVU Institute of Technology. Currently, he serves as Chairman of the
WVU Institute of Technology Institutional Board of Visitors and represents the institution on the
WVU Board of Governors.
Among his honors are the 2005 Marshall University Graduate College Distinguished Graduate
Student Alumnus Award, the 2010 Distinguished Mountaineer Award from Governor Joe
Manchin III, the 2013 Marshall University Distinguished Alumni Award, the 2014 American
Association of Highway Engineers North Central West Virginia Section Man of the Year and the
2017 Distinguished West Virginian Award from Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, the state’s highest
honor for a native West Virginian.
Mattox and his wife, Elaine Davis Mattox – a nursing graduate of the WVU Institute of
Technology, Marshall University and a Doctor of Educational Leadership from WVU, and a
Research Scientist with the Charleston Area Medical Center Institute for Academic Medicine –
reside in Hurricane, West Virginia; Glade Springs, West Virginia; and Murrells Inlet, South
Carolina. They have three grown children, including a WVU graduate and a current WVU
Institute of Technology student, and three grandchildren. Mattox is a native of Nitro, West
Virginia, and Elaine is from Point Pleasant, West Virginia.