Yassmin Gramian, PE, serves as the secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, where she oversees programs and policies affecting highways, urban and rural public transportation, airports, railroads, ports, and waterways. She manages PennDOT's annual budget, which is invested in Pennsylvania's approximately 120,000 miles of state and local highways and 32,000 state and local bridges. Under her leadership, the department is directly responsible for nearly 40,000 miles of highway and roughly 25,400 bridges.
She also has oversight of the state's 11.8 million vehicle registrations and 10.3 million driver's licenses and IDs.
Drawing on her years of technical expertise as an engineer in the transportation and infrastructure industry, she is focused on developing these forward-looking strategies that deliver innovative solutions for communities and transportation networks across the commonwealth.
Gramian has more than 30 years of experience in operations, design, and management of transportation infrastructure systems, including highway, tolling, bridge, and railroad projects. She brings to her role at PennDOT strong working relationships with transportation authorities and governments across the Pennsylvania region, including the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Philadelphia International Airport, Delaware River Port Authority, SEPTA, AMTRAK, and the City of Philadelphia.
Prior to joining PennDOT, she served as a senior vice president and business development director for a leading international engineering firm. She was responsible for growth of the company's transportation and infrastructure sector in the Northeast Region.
She previously served as senior vice president for a global architecture, civil engineering, and construction management firm, with responsibility for operations across Pennsylvania – namely in Philadelphia, King of Prussia, Harrisburg, and Pittsburgh. Known for leading with an "all-in" approach to solving challenges, Gramian also has experience at other well-known regional and global engineering firms
In her career, she was responsible for several signature projects, including Philadelphia's Roosevelt Boulevard Multimodal Corridor Program, SEPTA Subway Concourse Improvement Project, Amtrak's Keystone Corridor Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, PATCO Ben Franklin Bridge Track Rehabilitation, PennDOT's Central Susquehanna Valley Transportation Project's US-15 Susquehanna River Bridge, and Philadelphia Airport Terminal F Modernization. Her work in Pennsylvania has resulted in numerous awards, including 2013 Best Project award by Engineering News-Record Mid-Atlantic and multiple awards from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania.
Gramian earned master's and bachelor's degrees in civil engineering from the University of Michigan and completed the Tuck Management Training Program at Dartmouth College. She is a professional engineer in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Florida. She previously served on the boards of PhilaPort (the Port of Philadelphia), American Council of Engineering Companies of PA, the March of Dimes Annual Transportation, Building & Construction Awards Luncheon, Transportation Management Association of Chester County, Policy Committee of Greater Valley Forge Transportation Management Association, and Bridge Committee of Association of Pennsylvania Constructors.
