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    1. Management

    AECOM appoints Tom Prendergast and Denise Berger to leadership positions in its Northeast Region

    March 3, 2020
    As federal and state-level infrastructure investment proposals are finalized, the two transportation executives will best position the firm to secure, design and develop regional transportation upgrades, expansions and innovations.
    Related To: AECOM
    AECOM
    Denise Berger
    Denise Berger

    AECOM has added two transportation executives to the company's New York City-based leadership team. 

    Tom Prendergast, with more than 25 years of experience with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), including as their chairman and CEO, assumes a national role as head of transit within the Design and Consulting Services Americas (DCSA). Denise Berger, whose 32 years with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey culminated in serving as chief of operations with the authority’s Engineering Department, joins as COO of AECOM’s Northeast Region, which includes Metro New York. Both leaders have assumed their new roles with the company and are based in New York City.

    “We are at a critical moment for the future of the transportation and transit strategies for New York City and the surrounding region, while Congress considers proposals to reauthorize and significantly expand the (FAST) Act,” said Steve Morriss, AECOM’s president of Design and Consulting Services Americas. “Denise and Tom are better equipped than anyone in the industry to help the tri-state area leverage those federal dollars to help solve our pressing transportation and infrastructure needs and make it a model for the future of mobility.”

    Both roles are responsible for driving growth and strategy, with Prendergast focused on AECOM’s transit market across the Americas, and Berger focused on the Northeast Region, with a primary emphasis on development and execution of projects for New York Metro clients. 

    “The clients and communities we serve in New York expect and deserve smart, innovative infrastructure solutions which meet the needs of this unique city and state. Denise and Tom bring a combined seven decades of exceptional experience, as well as distinctive perspectives and skilled insights to our business,” Morriss added.

    Prendergast brings more than four decades of understanding and public and private sector insight about what it takes to design and operate complex transportation systems in highly visible and politically-sensitive arenas, as well as how to integrate private financing into transportation programs. He spent most of his career in senior leadership roles with New York State’s MTA, serving more than 8.5 million daily users. He is a board member of the Regional Plan Association and the Eno Center for Transportation, past vice chair of the American Public Transportation Association Commuter Rail Committee and past chair of the Standard Development Oversight Committee.

    “Transit is my passion, and I’ve had the privilege of serving this market in New York for decades,” Prendergast said. “I’m looking forward to this next chapter in my career, taking on a national transit role with an industry leader like AECOM, while staying rooted in the city I love.”

    Berger joins AECOM from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey where she served as chief of operations for the Engineering Department. The department comprises over 550 architects and engineers, with a $1.3 billion annual budget and is a critical contributor to delivering the agency’s $32 billion Capital Plan by planning, designing, constructing and commissioning critical transportation projects for the region.

    With more than 30 years of experience in the transportation and building industry, Berger brings extensive expertise in leading many large-scale and complex capital projects for aviation, ports, tunnels, bridges and terminals, Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) and the World Trade Center. Berger serves on the board of directors for NYIT’s School of Architecture and Design’s Advisory Board, WTS International Board and the Professional Women in Construction (PWC) board of directors.

    “My career working in the public sector has been incredibly rewarding, and I’m proud of the projects the Port Authority Engineering Department planned, designed and delivered for the people of New York and New Jersey,” Berger said. “Joining AECOM enables me to continue serving the industry as part of the private sector with a company known for delivering some of New York’s most iconic projects.”