Early in your career, you will likely be given an assignment to work on a project – one that is already defined as to its location, scope and budget. But where did it come from? Who decided what is to be built, where it is to be located, how much will it cost, and how will it be funded?
We are going discuss how projects come to be. Ideally, they derive from a rationale, engaged planning and programming process. But that is not always the case. It is not always pretty; it can be a bit like making sausage. Using examples from an over four-decade career in transportation and urban development, Greg Benz will illustrate the varied decision-making paths that led to the decisions to implement large-scale projects.
Understanding the genesis of a project will help you be a better contributor to its successful implementation.
Greg Benz has over 45 years of experience as a transportation and urban planner, designer, and project manager. His experience includes projects throughout the United States and around the globe. Greg is a Senior Vice President and Board Director with WSP USA (formerly Parsons Brinckerhoff), having held numerous business management roles, including most recently serving as WSP- USA’s Director for Technical Excellence & Innovation. Greg began his professional career with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame (1976) and a Master of Urban Planning from Princeton University. He is Register Architect, Licensed Professional Planner, a Life Member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, Fellow of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and an elected Emeritus Member of the National Academies’ Transportation Research Board.
His spouse of 45 years, Ann Greenburg Benz, Bachelor of Architecture, Class of ’76, was in the first class of women accepted to ND.