Board of Directors

José “Pepe” Izquierdo was educated and has served as a Civil Engineer for the past 40 years. Additionally, he has been active in multiple professional, civic, and public organizations. He served as Secretary of State and Secretary of Transportation and Public Works of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Currently, he is a Principal at the engineering services company, PORTICUS CSP, in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico.

José “Pepe” Izquierdo was President of the American Concrete Institute (International Association for the Development of Building Codes and Standards) from 2003 to 2004. He has had a long and fruitful career in the Institute. He is an Honorary Member, member of Committee 314 for Simplified Design of Concrete, Committee 369 for Seismic Repair and Rehabilitation, was a member of Committee 375 for Design of Concrete Buildings Subjected to Wind, Committee 118 on the Use of Technology for Concrete, and Committee E-705 on Educational Activities in Technology. On the administrative side of the Institute, he has served on the Education, Finance, Current Issues, Metrication, and 100-Year Celebration Committees. Additionally, he was co-director of the 1992 and 2007 Conventions held in Puerto Rico.

Following a long career of service to the Institution, from 1994 to 1996 he served as President of the College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico. During his 40 years of service, he also served as President of the Civil Engineers Institute and President of the San Juan Chapter. He has worked on numerous committees such as Earthquakes, Code Review, Dimension Magazine, and Tecnomundo Newspaper.

Starting in 2020, he was appointed a member of the Advisory Committee of the National Construction Safety Team of the National Institute of Standards and Technology of the USA.

He regularly lectures for the College of Engineers and Surveyors of PR throughout the island. He has also presented papers as a Distinguished Lecturer in 12 states of the USA, in over 18 countries in the Americas, Turkey, the Czech Republic, and Poland on topics of concrete, historical preservation, and transportation.

Pepe has served in multiple civic and guild organizations. In the Chamber of Commerce, he served as President from 2014 to 2015 and has served as President-Elect, Vice President, and Board Member. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ponce and the Board of Trustees of the Technological College of San Juan. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Puerto Rico of the Sila María Calderón Foundation, Vice President of the Board of Catholic Funeral Services, and a board member of the Hogar de Niños de Cupey.

He was president of the Board of Directors of several Public Corporations: Highways and Transportation Authority, Ports Authority, Metropolitan Bus Authority, Aqueducts and Sewers Authority of Puerto Rico, Electric Power Authority of Puerto Rico, Public Buildings Authority, Trust for One Billion for Special Communities, and Corporation for the Integral Development of the Cantera Peninsula.

He has received several recognitions; in 1999 he was named a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute; an institution of which he was later named Honorary Member in 2012. He is also an Academician of the Puerto Rican Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded by CIAPR with the Distinguished Engineer of San Juan Award in 1992, Distinguished Civil Engineer of Puerto Rico in 2002, Luis A Ferré Transportation Award by DTOP in 2008, URBE Architecture Award in 2008, Don Ricardo Alegría Award for service to architecture by the College of Architects and Landscape Architects in 2014, and was appointed to the Order of Merit of the Chambers of Commerce of Latin America for promoting Trade and Exportation. In 2017, the Puerto Rico Council of the Boy Scouts of America selected him as Distinguished Citizen and in 2019, ACI awarded him the Alfred E. Landau Award for dedication to the development of guides and standards for concrete design. In 2021, he was selected to be a Full Member of the Puerto Rican Academy of Engineering.

Izquierdo obtained a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Engineering Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico. He began his professional career at Capacete Martín & Associates in 1980, serving as a structural engineer for five years. He founded and worked for 15 years at the engineering firm Izquierdo, Rueda & Associates offering infrastructure development, structural engineering, and historical preservation services. Since 2005, PORTICUS CSP has provided engineering services in Puerto Rico related to structural design, project management, inspection, and historical preservation.