Dan Bucan - The Quality President!!

Kristen Short (0:02)

Is this thing on? Testing, testing?

Dave Arnold (0:05)

Does the equipment still work? Why are we here again?

Kristen Short (0:09)

Who even are we? This is Infrastructure Junkies.

Dave Arnold (0:15)

Welcome Infrastructure Junkies to your show. This is a podcast created by right of way professionals, for right of way professionals.

The Infrastructure Junkies podcast is the voice of the right of way industry, exploring eminent domain, right of way acquisition, and infrastructure development.

Believe it or not, it's been a whole year since we recorded and released a podcast. Why did you take a year off, you ask? Sometimes life just gets in the way of your best laid plans. You may recall that we sat with Kobe and Carleen Godwin around the time of the Virginia Beach Conference, and we recorded what has come to be the third most downloaded Infrastructure Junkies podcast out of 89 episodes. Talk about some big shoes to fill.

Kristen Short (1:00)

And today, we have the great privilege of interviewing the incoming president of the International Right of Way Association for the sixth year in a row.

We started this thing out with big Jake Farrell. That one was a lot of fun, followed by Judy Jones, and then Fred Easton, Denise Skinner, and Kobe Godwin have all been in the hot seat with us.

Dave Arnold (1:20)

And you remember the very first time we did this with Jake. Can you believe we're still on speaking terms?

Kristen Short (1:26)

Yeah, no. And then why did Judy agree to come after all that and all the rest of them?

Dave Arnold (1:29)

They just kept coming and fantastic.

Kristen Short (1:31)

And today, it's Dan Bucan's turn.

Dave Arnold (1:35)

Dan the Man Bucan.

Kristen Short (1:37)

Don't say that.

Dave Arnold (1:38)

I say what I want because you're not the boss of me.

Kristen Short (1:41)

We'll see. Hi, Dan.

Hello.

Dan Bucan (1:44)

Good afternoon, everyone.

Kristen Short (1:46)

We are so happy to have you on today.

Dan Bucan (1:49)

Thank you. I'm happy to be here. I'm super nervous. I'm super excited.

I'm looking forward to Omaha with everyone, but at the same time, terrified that I'll screw up a line. Public speaking is not my thing. Public questions, I can do any day, but I just get challenged by this role.

Kristen Short (2:08)

Why in the world did you agree to do this podcast?

Dan Bucan (2:11)

I want to outdo the prior six presidents, right? I'm all for competition and setting the bar and trying to raise it. So, hopefully, I can do that here, be entertaining.

I'm glad you're not videotaping me. I have a face for radio and a voice for nothing, maybe used in the shower, but hopefully, it comes across clear for you.

Dave Arnold (2:32)

Are you scared at all?

Dan Bucan (2:34)

Yeah, about different things, right? The world, the state of affairs in the world, but also coming together in conference. I'm frightened, but I'm excited. So, it's more of a, don't mess up your speech, don't say the wrong word, don't create a lawsuit where you have to get general counsel involved to fix something. And enjoy my time. I get some golden voice from some of the past presidents. I've tried to reach out to many of them over this last year.

And they were all about, enjoy the moment, right? It's a wonderful opportunity to get together with my right of way brothers, sisters, and family.

And I look forward to making the most of that, enjoying the time together, and trying not to sweat the minutes of a speech. For six minutes, if headquarters has their word with my speech, it'll be down to six minutes soon.

Dave Arnold (3:24)

I had the pleasure of working with four different international presidents in the IRWA, and every single one said the same thing, you blink your eyes and your term is over. So don't blink your eyes until after this podcast is over, okay? Because we want to be able to have a good conversation with you.

Dan Bucan (3:40)

I try to stay awake. The seat is a little warm, so I understand what the hot seat means. I'll stay with you the whole time. So I'm looking forward to getting a message out to our members and seeing what kind of fun questions that you have for me. I've listened to all the prior podcasts.

Dave Arnold (3:56)

Good for you.

Dan Bucan (3:57)

There's really not much recon you could do on me. I'm pretty much an open book. There's not a lot of controversial things, at least. I hope not.

Kristen Short (4:06)