- One word to describe yourself: Courteous
- Alma Mater: Hunter College
- Favorite book: “Wait Until Spring, Bandini" by John Fante
- Favorite TV show: “Seinfeld”
- Favorite movie: “They Live”
- Favorite hobby(ies): Hiking, biking and generally exploring California as much as possible.
- Fun fact about yourself: She can turn red lights green if she stares at them long enough.
- What is your favorite transit system (outside of the one you work for or have worked for!) and why?: The U-Bahn and S-Bahn in Berlin because they’re basically on time to the second all the time. It’s almost unreal and it’s incredibly impressive.
Dominique M. Paukowits’s education and professional experience at the Federal, state, and local levels provide strong leadership aptitude, advanced technical abilities in planning and environmental review, and close attention to detail with respect to quantitative and qualitative analysis. Her extensive professional history of communicating efficiently and effectively with executive leadership, FTA Headquarters and regional office staff along with her wide-ranging experience in the field of transportation planning equate to a strong foundation for her continuing career in mass transit. Paukowits’s professional experience includes nine years in the transportation planning and policy fields. She worked in New York City as a senior level transportation planner focusing on implementing Bus Rapid Transit in neighborhoods where it previously did not exist. She also worked at the federal level in Washington D.C. in transportation policy, with a focus on developing performance measures.
Most recently, Paukowits has worked in the FTA Region IX office as a Community Planner working on complex regional transportation issues and projects.
Paukowits currently serves as the acting director in the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) Region 9 Office of Planning and Program Development. Her tenure at FTA has included approximately four years in the Region 9 office which provides oversite for four states and three territories. As Acting Director, Paukowits currently oversees the planning department that is responsible for awarding over $2.5 billion in grants annually and on average process over 275 grant awards to over 150 grantees within the region. Prior to joining Region 9, Dominique worked in FTA’s Headquarters in Washington DC as a Program Analyst in the Office of Budget and Policy where, among many other responsibilities, she served as liaison between the FTA and the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and Government Accountability Office on transportation program audits. In this role, she was responsible for developing metrics for assessing agency wide performance measures, developing implementation plans for transportation legislation, and giving recommendations to senior and executive level staff. Dominique has demonstrated tremendous commitment to the field of transportation planning from the beginning of her career at New York City Transit (NYCT) where she served as a senior transportation planner, who focused specifically on implementing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in New York City in neighborhoods where it previously did not exist. Bringing BRT to New York was a critically importation project. Dominique also worked extensively with community groups, the New York City Department of Transportation along with state and federal officials to ensure the efficient delivery of the BRT program (known as the Select Bus Service, or SBS). This project received both national and international recognition and continues to benefit residents of New York City. Paukowits also has developed strong leadership aptitude, advanced technical abilities in planning and environmental review, and dedication to developing process improvements and fostering peer to peer knowledge sharing opportunities.
Paukowits’s has served on a number of Department of Transportation (USDOT) initiatives from the Office of the Secretary, including the Bike and Pedestrian Safety Initiative and the Ladders of Opportunity LadderSTEP Initiative where targeted attention was given to improving safety and accessibility along key transit dependent corridors in a number of cities across the region. Dominique has a long standing commitment to providing excellent customer service to FTA grantees and other stakeholders. She has received a number of awards including most recently the FTA Regional Administrator Honor Award for continued excellence in fulfilling agency initiatives and outstanding customer service, the FTA Team Award for analyzing census data and assessing potential impacts, the Hurricane Sandy FTA Team Award for outstanding teamwork in implementing the disaster relief appropriations of Hurricane Sandy, the FTA Meritous Team Award for achievement in processing a record amount of grant actions and funding amounts in the history of Region 9, and the USDOT Secretary’s Award for providing technical assistance to cities and advancing transportation projects that revitalize, connect and improve access to economic opportunity.
"I think for me what I enjoy most is the customer service focus, I come from a transit agency background and I think I know how important it is to get the correct answer and get it quickly because I worked on the federal side. So I would say the customer service and that the agencies that we work."
"I grew up in a small town and I noticed how dependent how I was and everybody was in the car… I moved to San Francisco when I was a teenager, then to London and New York and I was just blown away to how much easier it was to get across the city. I would just get on buses to see where they went or get on subways and ride from one way to the other. That was how I learned the city, exploring it alone on transit. I think living in new York shaped my view on transit and what is possible when you have proper planning processes."
"When I worked in New York I worked on implementing BRT which we called select bus service, or BRT light, I worked on that from doing the screening on seeing what corridors would be the best for BRt. I did the off-board fare collection, I did the branding and the public outreach informing people on what BRT was. Before 2008 there wasn’t BRT in New York so being part of that team was really rewarding to help people understand that dedicated bus lanes really weren’t a bad thing and how to incorporate bike lanes into the plan. I worked on the Manhattan and Brooklyn corridor."
"I would say that find a mentor and being respectful of people times, speaking with your direct boss, and just explaining what you want to learn people really appreciate that. In both my past jobs I worked with my direct boss and I would job shadow people. I wanted to understand what the subway group did in New York and I would go with them to sites, meetings…. It’s very easy to get really busy and focus on your assignments, but just talk along."
