William F. Lyons Jr., P.E., ENV SP, F.ASCE, founder, president, and CEO of Fort Hill Companies LLC, has been named a Fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
Lyons has more than 30 years of professional experience in consulting, government, and technology. He serves as a subject matter expert and trusted advisor on transportation and real estate matters. Through more than 15 years of experience as a consultant, he has provided professional services to a wide array of public and private sector clients across the globe and throughout the United States, including work on five continents and in 18 countries. He has served in a professional capacity as a traffic engineer with the Massachusetts Highway Department (now MassDOT) and as the director of Traffic & Parking for the City of Somerville, Massachusetts.
As an attorney, Lyons has advised clients on emerging deal structures for transportation and infrastructure projects involving public-private partnerships (P3s). He advised municipalities and land developers on the process of procuring and executing P3 projects.
He uses a research-based approach augmented by decades of policy expertise and practical experience to help create sustainable communities. He is a highly regarded and internationally recognized thought leader and expert in the field of shared, electric, and automated mobility. He has consulted to the Massachusetts House of Representatives on the topic and has delivered presentations to audiences locally and nationally. He is frequently sought after for market research interviews in the connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) industry. He advises new urban mobility startups through the University of Cambridge Sustainability Exchange (SUSX) and serves as a consultant to the Norwich University Applied Research Institutes (NUARI).
Lyons holds academic appointments at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Transportation Center, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Norwich University. He is a former Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellow at UMass and is currently a Senior Fellow at Norwich’s Center for Global Resilience and Security. He is widely published in academic and trade journals and has been interviewed frequently for various media.
For the Boston Section of ASCE, Lyons has been chair of the Government Affairs and Professional Practice Committee. He has served as the BSCES Legislative Fellow in the Massachusetts House of Representatives Committee on Transportation, where he played a role in the drafting of transportation reform legislation. A combat veteran, he recently retired as a Colonel in the Army Reserves, having served most of his career in Military Intelligence and Engineering.
Lyons holds a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School, a Master of Studies in Sustainability Leadership from Cambridge University, a Master of Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College, a Master of Transportation and Urban Systems from North Dakota State University, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Norwich University. He is a licensed professional engineer, a licensed attorney, and a licensed planner. His certifications include American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and Envision Sustainability Professional.
