PANYNJ names new chief engineer

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) named Jim Starace chief engineer. Starace is a 29-year veteran engineer who has been responsible for overseeing some of the agency's most critical transportation projects.

 

Starace will replace the retiring Peter Zipf, a 30-year PANYNJ veteran who has served as chief engineer for the past five years. Zipf, whose retirement is effective August 3, joined PANYNJ in 1985 as a project manager in engineering. In 1988, he became the engineer of projects, a position he would hold until 1997, when he was promoted to program manager. In 2000, he was promoted to general manager of engineering management before being named deputy chief engineer in 2004, director of engineering/deputy chief engineer in 2006 and chief engineer in 2010, replacing Frank Lombardi.

Starace joined the agency in 1986. During his nearly three decades of service, he served as resident engineer for several high-profile projects, including Newark Liberty International Airport’s International Arrivals Building, resident engineer for LaGuardia Airport, engineer of construction for the AirTrain Terminal at Jamaica Station and New Jersey airports and manager of the Construction Management Division.

“The chief engineer is a storied position at the authority with a long legacy of excellence, given the great transportation projects this agency has built and continues to undertake,” said Executive Director Pat Foye. “Peter has continued this rich tradition with three decades of exceptional and innovative service in a period of remarkable construction activity by the agency, while at the same time developing and mentoring the next generation of great engineers for this agency. His innovation, leadership and institutional knowledge will be missed.

“Jim is a strong leader and great engineer who I am confident will carry on the tradition of excellence of the authority’s Engineering Department,” Foye said. “Jim’s engineering positions have prepared him to assume the oversight of our next generation of major projects, including the Bayonne Bridge and Goethals Bridge projects, the modernization of LaGuardia Airport, the replacement of the George Washington Bridge suspender ropes and many more.”

 

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