Thomas Foley

Board of Advisors

Thomas J. Foley, P.E. serves as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Design and Construction. He started at DDC as an engineer-in-charge in 1998, supervising a team of resident engineers and evaluating and approving design modifications of engineering structures and systems. After 9/11, he became a project manager for DDC’s World Trade Center Disaster Recovery and Debris Removal Project, reviewing staffing and procedures, analyzing labor and equipment utilization, and identifying and correcting inefficiencies in the $500 million project.

Foley has held a variety of roles at the agency, including deputy director, director, and assistant commissioner in the agency’s Division of Infrastructure. In January 2014, he became associate commissioner in the Division of Infrastructure, while helping to spearhead the activation of Water Tunnel 3. In January 2017, he assumed the role of deputy commissioner of the Public Buildings Division, establishing short- and long-term plans for the division to best align with the goals of the agency and provide executive leadership on divisional/agency initiatives, and was responsible for managing the design and construction of a large range of civic buildings for the City of New York.

Foley earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Manhattan College. He is a licensed professional engineer and a certified construction manager. He also serves on the national board of the Design Build Institute of America.