AECOM adds 2 long-time New York professionals to team

AECOM announced the addition of two of New York’s most respected transportation executives to the company’s New York City-based leadership team. Tom Prendergast, with more than 25 years of experience with the MTA, including as their chairman and CEO, assumes a national role as head of Transit within the Design and Consulting Services Americas (DCSA).

Meanwhile, Denise Berger, whose 32 years with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey culminated in serving as 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.

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.

Prendergast brings more than four 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. He is a board member of the Regional Plan Association and the Eno Center for Transportation, past vice chair of the APTA Commuter Rail Committee, and past chair of the Standard Development Oversight Committee.

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, 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 board of directors.