Infrastructure, politics, and AI are colliding-but what is the true bottleneck: money, technology, or culture? In this episode, Phil reconnects with longtime friend and infrastructure strategist Scott Richrath to unpack the future of transportation, water, and energy, exploring why listening may be the most powerful tool in policy and business.
In this episode, Philip and Scott Richrath discuss:
- Relationship capital and reconnecting after decades
- Public vs. private roles in infrastructure and PPPs
- Water scarcity, Western compacts, and future Great Lakes pipelines
- Energy demand, data centers, and micro-nuclear possibilities
- AI as a decision-support tool and the power of listening over talking
Lightbulb Moments:
- Understanding both public and private sector perspectives creates a major advantage when navigating infrastructure, because you can see policy, pain points, and incentives on all sides.
- Public–private partnerships only “work” when all parties define success clearly up front and align on objectives, timelines, and trade-offs.
- Water is emerging as a more critical constraint than transportation or even energy in the American West, and long-distance transfers or large-scale desalination will eventually be driven by economics.
- Cultural habits and psychology, like Americans’ insistence on personal schedules and cars, can be bigger barriers to high-speed rail and transit adoption than technology itself.
- AI is most powerful not as a replacement for human judgment, but as a fast research assistant that can validate, challenge, or refine your critical thinking and ideas.
“I used to think to be a good communicator, you had to be a good speech maker, and now it’s become more and more evident to me… the more important half of that equation is the listening side.” – Scott Richrath
Scott Richrath is the co-founder of Sturnella Group, a two-person firm he and his wife started in early 2026 to provide financial and strategic consulting services to owners and builders of civil infrastructure across the United States.
Over the past 25 years, Scott has held a variety of roles in public and private engineering organizations. Most recently, he directed AtkinsRéalis’ national program management business, overseeing billion-dollar capital programs in transportation, water, and other industries. Previously, he worked for the State of Colorado in roles ranging from Water Conservation District program manager for the Division of Water Resources to Chief Financial Officer for the Department of Transportation. These experiences shaped his approach to stewardship of public resources, informed policymaking, and collaboration with teams invested in the communities they serve.
Scott’s light bulb moments have come from the clients, coworkers, mentors, and teaming partners he has collaborated with throughout his career. From coaching high school basketball in Wisconsin to leading major infrastructure programs, Scott has long believed that a mediocre plan with strong support has a better chance of success than the best plan with little support. To learn more about Scott and Sturnella Group, contact him at Scott@SturnellaGroup.com.
Connect with Scott Richrath:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-richrath-profile/
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