Underground Infrastructure - April 2023 - 23

Underground Infrastructure Conference
Orlando's Richard Howard
Brought Global View, Acclaim
to Innovative Public Works Program
Jeff Awalt | Executive Editor
A fifth-generation Floridian who based
his entire career in-state might seem an
unlikely candidate to bring international
perspective and recognition to a municipal
public works department, but it
was a natural path for Richard Howard.
An early interest in engineering and
aviation led to a civil engineering degree
from the University of Central Florida
and a first job at Pan Am World Services,
which managed construction and
maintenance of U.S. Air Force facilities
from the eastern seaboard through the
southern Atlantic Ocean.
Based out of Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station, Howard's work spanned
oceans, continents and diverse projects
involving most facets of facility construction
and rehabilitation, from structural
analysis and design to paving and drainage
systems. When not at work, he used
flight benefits to travel the world, visiting
civil engineering sites at every turn.
After seven years with Pan Am, he
brought that experience to Orlando's
Public Works department in 1985 as the
assistant chief of its Streets and Drainage
Bureau. His career grew along with
the fast-expanding city. He took over
Streets and Drainage as bureau chief
in 1989 and became city engineer four
years later. His success in that high-visibility
assignment led to his appointment
as director of Public Works in 2011.
During his tenure, Orlando's Public
Works department was increasingly
known for its innovative, sometimes
experimental and largely successful approaches
to wastewater and stormwater
management. By his retirement in April
2022, the inveterate traveler who continued
to study civil projects around
the world, had helped build systems
that
regularly attracted
international
visitors seeking to learn from Orlando's
unique experiences.
Capping his municipal career, Howard
was honored with the underground
infrastructure industry's 2023 Most
Valuable Professional Award. He sat
down with UI to discuss his career and
share a few lessons learned over 37 years
in public works.
UI: How did you first become
interested in engineering?
Does it run in the family?
Howard: Yes, actually, it does. My father
owned an electrical contracting business
in Orlando and, although he wasn't an
engineer, it was relevant work. I used
to go up and spend summers with my
grandparents in Marietta (Ga.), where
my grandfather was an aeronautical
engineer at Lockheed. He designed airframes
for different models. The C-111
was one of them, and I think he worked
on that for a lot of his career. He would
take me to work with him sometimes,
and I got to see what was going on there,
and that interested me. I think that experience
stayed with me, even though I
ended up studying civil engineering.
When I got to college, engineering
just seemed like the logical thing for
me to do. I was always pretty good with
math. I actually wanted to major in
physics, but I found out that you really
couldn't make any money doing that.
So I thought, you know, engineering is a
practical application of that.
Robert Carpenter, Underground Infrastructure; MVP Richard Howard; Justin Reeves, UCTA.
UndergroundInfrastructure.com | APRIL 2023 23
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Underground Infrastructure - April 2023

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