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Biographies

Vincent Pearce

National Response Program Manager
Office of Intelligence, Security, and Emergency Response
Office of the Secretary of Transportation
U.S. Department of Transportation

Vincent Pearce works in the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, leading the agency’s national emergency response program.  Within this context, he is responsible for conduct of Emergency Support Function 1 – Transportation, under the National Response Framework.  In 2005, this included transportation for the evacuation of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from NC State, an MBA from Harvard, and over 25 years of professional experience.  He has managed numerous transportation projects and programs in planning, design, implementation, and operation of transportation management and intelligent transportation systems, including design of over a dozen traffic management centers domestically and overseas.  He is named as inventor in two patents held by Honeywell Corporation.

After 20 years in the private sector, Mr. Pearce joined the US Department of Transportation in 2000.  Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Mr. Pearce formed and subsequently led the emergency transportation operations team at FHWA addressing all-hazards preparedness, response, and recovery.  This team’s areas of responsibility included homeland security, national defense preparedness, agency continuity of operations, planned special events, disaster management, and traffic incident management.  He initiated and managed a $20 million program of research into evacuation.  He serves as Departmental liaison to the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board’s highway security panel and was a charter member of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Standing Committee on Transportation Security.  He has spoken extensively on security topics, and authored numerous articles on transportation security and disaster management.  He has offered testimony before the Government Accountability Office, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the US Senate.

During his government service, Mr. Pearce has earned the Federal Highway Administrator’s Award for Excellence, the Secretary’s War on Terrorism Award, three Secretary’s Team Awards, two Secretary’s Awards for Partnering for Excellence, recognition from the Secretary for Distinguished Service responding to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the Secretary’s Gold Medal Award for Outstanding Achievement.  He is a graduate of the Leadership for a Democratic Society program at Federal Executive Institute.

Outside of his career, Mr. Pearce has served on the Graduate School Board of Advisors of North Carolina State University, as a founding officer of a national professional association, in two nonpartisan positions in local government, and as a unit leader in the Boy Scouts of America.