Emerging Leaders

Class of 2020 – Edgardo Perez

Edgardo Perez
WSP

I was born in Puerto Rico when my parents decided to move to Newark, NJ in 1982. I grew up in Newark and attended public schools. I was unsure of what I wanted to do after high school and eventually decided to pursue engineering. I enrolled in NJIT and graduated in 2001 with a civil engineering degree. My first job related to engineering was interning for a housing agency. That job helped with me get a full-time position after college in transportation and traffic engineering, which was my interest. I knew very little of traffic engineering but enjoyed the work. After one year working, I went back to school to get a Master’s Degree in Transportation Engineering.

Since then I have continued to grow professionally. I’ve had the opportunity to work on various types of large and smaller projects, with different clients and project offices, eventually gaining enough experience to get more responsibility. Through my involvement in professional societies I have expanded my professional network. I served as ASCE Northern NJ Branch President and am a member of ITE. In my current position, at WSP, I manage the traffic engineering group in the Newark office. There are natural challenges and opportunities with this role, but I am enjoying it. I’m a Professional Engineer and Professional Traffic Operations Engineer.

I am married to Roxana and have two boys, Adan who is five and Alexander who is one year old.

Fun Fact: I took professional dancing lessons

Favorite Quote: In every failure there is opportunity

My job would be a lot easier if I could better manage work and family time.