The three members of the Board unanimously passed a resolution honoring Jamian, who was first appointed to the Board in 2009 and served for 12 years. His terms included four years as the Board chairman (2013-14 and 2019-20).
RCOC Board members are appointed by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, though the Road Commission is a separate unit of government and not funded by county general government. Road Commissioners serve for six-year terms.
“Greg helped lead this agency through the dark days following the Great Recession,” noted RCOC Board Chair Andrea LaLonde. “Those were hard days, when our revenues were falling. Thanks in part to Greg’s leadership, RCOC was able to reduce its staff by one third without laying off a single employee in the wake of recession-related financial challenges.”
LaLonde added that Jamian was also always an outspoken advocate for motorist safety and for adopting efficiency-generating technologies. “Greg always had the best interest of Oakland County residents and businesses in mind and was a strong advocate for our county,” she said.
RCOC Vice Chair Nancy Quarles, while noting that she did not serve with Jamian on the Road Commission Board, appreciates his commitment to traffic safety. “Some of the agency’s safety-related practices are in place because of Greg,” she noted. “For example, the wider striping along the sides of roads, which are more visible in all types of conditions and which last longer, were something Greg pushed for.”
Road Commissioner Ron Fowkes, who served with Jamian throughout his own 10 years on the RCOC Board, echoed his colleagues’ praise of Jamian. “Greg always tried to see things from our customers’ points of view – from the perspectives of the people using the road system,” Fowkes said.
“He did a great job of walking the fine line between protecting the sometimes-conflicting interests of the individuals with the larger needs of the county road system. That is a true balancing act,” Fowkes noted.
A resident of Bloomfield Township and former Oakland County commissioner and Bloomfield Township trustee, Jamian has been president and CEO of an integrated health-services corporation in Troy for more than 35 years. A graduate of Oakland University with a BA in economics, he and his wife, Sandra, have three daughters and two grandchildren.
Jamian has also been active in academic and charitable organizations in Oakland County and Southeast Michigan for decades, including serving on the board of the Manoogian Manor Home for the Aged, on the board of the Oakland University School of Nursing and the Traffic Improvement Association of Michigan’s Board of Directors.
Jamian has frequently advocated for better roads and highways in Oakland County as well as improvement to the regional connectivity of multimodal transportation systems in southeast Michigan.
RCOC Managing Director Dennis Kolar concurred with the RCOC Board members. “Not only will we miss Greg’s unwavering commitment to safety and fiscal integrity, we’ll also miss his sense of humor and his insight,” Kolar said. “At every Board meeting, you could always count on Greg to lighten things up a little with a humorous quip or praise of a staff member.”
