John D. Porcari, a senior vice president and national director of strategic consulting at WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, has been named the 2016 Man of the Year by the Lido Civic Club of Washington, D.C.
The Lido Civic Club was established in 1929 with the primary goal of assisting recent Italian emigrants become assimilated into the ways of American business. For over 86 years the Club has brought together Washington area Italian American businessmen and professionals to enjoy not only their shared business interest but also their Italian American culture while volunteering in various philanthropic activities.
Prior recipients of Lido Civic Club awards and honors include: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., U.S. District Court Judge John J. Sirica; U.S. Rep. Peter Rodino, and General Peter Pace, 16th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“We congratulate John on this recognition as an outstanding leader who has served with distinction in executive positions in federal and state government, academia and the consulting engineering industry,” said Clifford Eby, president of the U.S. transportation & infrastructure sector of WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff.
As the head of WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff’s strategic consulting group, Porcari is responsible for integrating the firm’s technical expertise in planning, engineering, program/construction management and operations with the strategic thinking needed by infrastructure owners, developers and operators to successfully deliver transportation, energy, water/wastewater and community development programs and projects.
Prior to joining WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff in December 2013, Porcari was deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) since 2009. He served as chief operating officer for an executive branch department with a $77 billion annual budget, composed of 10 operating administrations and 55,000 employees worldwide. He was responsible for managing all DOT operations, which include operation of the nation’s airspace and air traffic control system; funding the interstate, national highway, transit and passenger rail systems; safety regulation and oversight of aviation, passenger vehicle, truck, motor coach, pipeline industries; and promotion of the maritime and merchant marine industry.
Porcari twice served as secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation, from 2007 to 2009 and from 1999 to 2003, managing a state agency responsible for integrated highway, transit, aviation, port, bridge and tunnel authority and motor vehicle administration components, with 9,300 employees and a $3.2 billion annual budget.
From 2003 to 2007 Porcari was vice president for administrative affairs at the University of Maryland, serving as chief administrative officer and chief financial officer for the flagship campus of university system of Maryland.
Porcari’s charitable and community activities include establishing with his siblings an emergency fund for nursing students at Monroe Community College. He also volunteers for Honor Flight Rochester, bringing World War II and other veterans from his hometown to visit the nation’s capital. At DOT, he established an internship program for college students interested in public service. He is an active supporter of recreational trails and has worked with the Living Classrooms Foundation in Baltimore to complete segments of the inner harbor trail and Maryland trails advocates. He has served on the board of directors of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), the World Trade Center Institute, and the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
Porcari and his wife Heidi are members of St. Ambrose Parish in Cheverly, Maryland, where they live with their five children.
