Maria Lehman is GHD’s Infrastructure Market Leader for the United States since May of 2020. Maria was the former Vice President for Critical Infrastructure for Parsons, COO and Acting Executive Director of the New York State Thruway Authority and Commissioner of Public Works for Erie County, NY. She has 40 years of diverse, increasingly responsible, multi-disciplinary technical and leadership experience, both in the private and public sectors, and in traditional and alternative delivery. She received her BS in Civil Engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Magna Cum Laude, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in several states.
She has served as Principal-in-Charge, Project Executive, Program and Project Manager, and Project Engineer on more than 700 projects which required everything from scoping, planning, environmental studies, preparation of plans, specifications, and estimates, construction management and operations and maintenance; ranging in size from $10,000 to $3.9 billion. Her strength has been in the area of complex element coordination; well-developed project communications, government and community relations, including innovative finance and grants; and fast track implementation on complex projects. She has successfully led alternative delivery projects such as Design Build, Best Value, and Public Private Partnerships.
Maria has served ASCE since her days at UB, first as a student, then Younger Member. She co-founded the Northeast Region Younger Members Council in 1983, and stayed active in her Section, serving all Board positions including President in 1990, while her husband Carl was President Elect. She was a delegate to the NYS and District 1 Councils and became a Society Director in 1993, followed by Zone 1 Vice President in 2001. She has continuously served or chaired numerous Society-level Committees, Councils, and Institutes since 1993. She returned to the Society’s Board of Direction in 2018 as Assistant Treasurer.
Maria has won numerous national, statewide and local awards including the ASCE President’s Medal, Edmund Friedman Young Engineer Award, UB’s School of Engineering Alumna of the Year, and the New York State Society of Professional Engineers Engineering Manager of the Year.
