NEW YORK—AECOM announced the addition of two respected infrastructure executives to the company’s New York, New York-based leadership team. Tom Prendergast, with more than 25 years of experience with the city's Metro Transit Authority (MTA), including as their chairman and chief executive officer (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 (COO) 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 DCSA. “Berger and Prendergast are better equipped than anyone in the industry to help the tristate 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. Berger and Prendergast bring a combined 7 decades of exceptional experience, as well as distinctive perspectives and skilled insights to our business,” Morriss said.
Prendergast brings more than 4 decades of deep 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, the largest agency of its kind in the country, serving over 8.5 million daily users.
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.
