Meet AECOM's Dev Rastogi, the Local Exec Spearheading Infrastructure Projects That Could Redefine Transportation

Dev Rastogi works with forward-thinking ideas.

ENTERPRISE
Infrastructure Innovator
Dev Rastogi

As a vice president at AECOM, a multinational engineering firm that has a large presence in North Texas with 230 employees, Rastogi is armed with innovation, determination, and ingenuity. The Dallas executive uses her more than three decades of experience to continue laying the foundation for AECOM to be a premier infrastructure firm, leading two major infrastructure game changers—the Texas Hyperloop and Automated Bus Consortium—that could redefine transportation.

To her colleagues, Rastogi is known for her unparalleled leadership and expertise within the public and private sectors. She keeps innovation at the forefront—by sticking to practical solutions geared toward positive change, the infrastructure expert is able to spearhead complex projects that could impact Dallas and beyond.

Those initiatives include wastewater epidemiology and transportation electrification, securing the DART light rail vehicle procurement, and providing consulting services for the Perot Museum of Nature and Science and Transit-Oriented Development in Plano. Locally, she has a number of long-standing client relationships, including DFW Airport and TXDOT.

Rastogi also oversees the company’s Dallas Cities program, which addresses issues such as climate adaptation and sustainable economic development.

And, she recently won the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce’s Paul Hanson Award for her significant community impact. She is the current public policy council chair for the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce and is vice chair of the Dallas Friday Group, a nonprofit focused on public affairs and business issues.

In her spare time, she mentors fellow female engineers who are working to pave their own way in a male-dominated industry.

In honor of Engineers Week, which runs from Feb. 21–27, you can learn more about Rastogi below.

Meet the infrastructure innovator

AECOMS’s Dev Rastogi, who leads the Dallas Cities program, was featured in Dallas Innovates’ Future 50 in Dallas-Fort Worth in the 2021 edition of our annual magazine. We talked with Rastogi about AECOM’s future tech-based projects, impact on industry trends, and experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s what she had to say.

On innovation or development at AECOM:

“The pandemic clearly showed AECOM’s innovation and resiliency. We responded to many challenges, including developing a virtual studio room for public meetings, providing a safe platform for simulated in-person engagement. Its vital community engagement continues through the development of infrastructure projects. I’m also proud of AECOM’s work with Dallas’ first Comprehensive Environmental and Climate Action Plan (CECAP). It brings the best of our global expertise in sustainable design, planning and policy and allows us to show off Dallas as a global leader.”

On the biggest challenge in the past year:

“A critical part of my role as Dallas executive is getting to know and staying connected with my hard-working team. Normally, we would hold meetings in our office, but due to the pandemic, we launched ‘Donuts with Dev’ (sans donuts). We used the Teams calls just to chat. I’m going to owe my team A LOT of donuts when we get back to meetings in the office.”

On what’s next for AECOM:

“I’m excited about the prospect of infrastructure stimulus funding to help with economic recovery and expedite big-idea projects. It will be great to see our transit agencies and airports ‘get back to normal’ and continue their hard work of creating our better normal. High Speed Rail and Texas Hyperloop aren’t the only exciting technologies on the horizon. Electrifying roadways and automated/connected vehicles will soon transform our day-to-day lives.”

On industry trends:

“There is a growing awareness of the role that infrastructure plays in historical inequities and growth policies of our cities, and Dallas is no exception. We are embracing not only AECOM’s role, but the broader architectural engineering industry’s role in being active agents for positive change. AECOM is exploring measures that will help cities break down systemic obstacles by applying an equity lens to enhance planning processes. Every engineer owes it to the communities we love to follow through.”

On supporting other female leaders and engineers in the industry:

“Supporting women, minorities, and young engineers grow and develop in their careers is very important to me, and at AECOM, I’m fortunate to call many trailblazing female engineers my coworkers. I try to empower every engineer to believe in themselves and to teach them the importance of making connections and building networks within and beyond the AE industry. It is these relationships that make for a remarkable career.”

Alex Edwards contributed to this report. The Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity. A version of this story was originally published in Dallas Innovates 2021: The Resilience Issue.

Read it online

Our fourth annual magazine, Dallas Innovates 2021: The Resilience Issue, highlights Dallas-Fort Worth as a hub for innovation. The collective strength of the innovation ecosystem and intellectual capital in Dallas-Fort Worth is a force to be reckoned with.