Infrastructure Forum Speakers

Nicholas DeNichilo was the president and chief executive officer of Mott MacDonald North America and is presently a retired professional engineer serving on various boards and professional associations. DeNichilo officially retired as of January 1, 2022. He was responsible for the success and sustainability of the firm’s entire operation in North America. Mott MacDonald North America is a $600 million business with 2,500 employees and is part of Mott MacDonald’s $2 billion global operations with 16,000 employees. DeNichilo served as a member of the Mott MacDonald Group Executive Board. He brings technical expertise, with 48 years of experience in the consulting field and an extensive network of relationships with key industry leaders and regulators.

An industry expert, DeNichilo has authored and presented numerous technical papers and hosted technical discussions at various industry events. He is past chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) Industry Leaders Council and is a past chair of the New Jersey Section of the American Water Works Association (AWWA). He is a member of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of ASCE. DeNichilo is also a member of the National Academy of Construction. He is a member of NJIT’s Board of Trustees and previously served as a member of NJIT’s Board of Directors of the Foundation and past chairman of the Newark College of Engineering Board of Visitors. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Innovation Institute. He previously served as a member of the Rutgers University New Jersey Climate Change Alliance. DeNichilo is also a board member of the Villanova Career Compass Advisory Board. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Industry Board of Center for Buildings, Infrastructure and Public Space at Columbia University.

DeNichilo has been honored to receive awards throughout his career, including ASCE’s Engineer of the Year Award in 1999. In 2003, the New Jersey Section of the American Water Works Association awarded DeNichilo the George Warren Fuller Award for his distinguished professional volunteer service in the water field. In 2005, the NJIT Alumni Association presented DeNichilo with the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. In 2014, ASCE awarded him the Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) Award, which recognizes and honors outstanding civil engineering leaders whose lifetime achievements and accomplishments have made significant differences in the field of engineering management. In 2015, ASCE awarded DeNichilo the John I. Parcel – Leif J. Sverdrup Civil Engineering Management Award for becoming a widely respected national voice on behalf of safe engineering practices and the need for resilient infrastructure. In 2020, DeNichilo was selected as an Honorary Diplomate, Water Resources Engineer (Hon.D.WRE) in the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers. In 2021, DeNichilo was awarded the Newark College of Engineering Outstanding Alumni Award.

DeNichilo received his B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering from NJIT’s Newark College of Engineering.

Maria C. Lehman is 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, New York. She has more than 44 years of diverse, increasingly responsible, multidisciplinary technical and leadership experience, both in the private and public sectors, and in traditional and alternative delivery. She received her B.S. in civil engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo, magna cum laude, and is a licensed professional engineer in several states.

Lehman is also the Samuel P. Capen Professor of Engineering Management at the State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Lehman was the interim executive director of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and the ASCE 2023 president, with over 167,000 members in 177 countries. She was appointed as the vice chair of President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council in 2022.

Lehman has won numerous national, statewide and local awards including the ASCE President’s Medal, ASCE Lifetime Achievement Award for Service to the Profession in Region 1, National Edmund Friedman Young Engineer Award, State University of New York at Buffalo’s School of Engineering Alumna of the Year, New York Governor Pataki’s Award for Excellence in Business and the New York State Society of Professional Engineers Engineering Manager of the Year. In 2022, Lehman was inducted into the National Academy of Construction and in 2025 to the National Academy of Engineering.

The Honorable Lucian Niemeyer serves as the chief executive officer of Building Cyber Security, a private sector, non-profit organization enhancing global safety through the development of cyber security protections for intelligent technologies, buildings and communities. In this role, he applies his expertise and experience to the nexus of facilities, real estate and technology to mitigate the risk and impacts to society from the growing threat of cyber incidents. 

Over three decades, Niemeyer served in the White House, the Pentagon and in Congress providing budget, policy and management leadership for U.S. national security programs. Niemeyer served as an assistant secretary of Defense managing the world’s largest real property portfolio valued at a trillion dollars. Niemeyer also served the secretary of Defense as a strategic advisor for critical mission assurance and cybersecurity programs, as an assistant secretary of the Navy and in the Office of Management and Budget at the White House overseeing national security, nuclear and intelligence programs. He also served on the professional staff of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services responsible for legislative and budget oversight over a wide portfolio of national security programs.He also serves as a founding principal director for the non-profit organization United Coalition for Advanced Nuclear Power (UCAN Power) to promote the use of clean, safe nuclear reactors for national security and commercial use.

Niemeyer is an Air Force veteran with 21 years of active and Virginia Air National Guard service. He holds a bachelor’s in architecture from the University of Notre Dame, an MBA from the George Washington University and a master’s in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College. He was also appointed a fellow in the Society of American Military Engineers, is a member of the National Academy of Construction and actively promotes Standards of Care for cyber safety in the engineering profession.