Bob Siris Named Recipient of the 2018 ACC Agency Best Practices Awards
The Airport Consultants Council (ACC) announced the selection of Bob Siris, Project Manager in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) New England Region Airports Division, Safety and Standards Branch, for the 2018 ACC Agency Best Practices Award. He was recognized for his exemplary work on the T.F. Green Airport Runway 16-34 Runway Safety Area (RSA) improvements, and most recently, the Runway 5 Extension at T.F. Green Airport in Providence, Rhode Island.
The purpose of the ACC Agency Best Practices Award is to draw attention to the government agency individuals who exemplify teamwork, demonstrate understanding of effective stakeholder interface, and exhibit an ability to be flexible and innovative. The award was presented during the ACC Airports Technical Workshop Awards Luncheon on Wednesday, June 20, 2018.
“Bob exemplifies the spirit of the ACC Agency Best Practices Award,” said ACC President T.J. Schulz. “We are pleased to recognize Bob and his approach in using teamwork, flexibility and innovation to navigate complex projects and programs to a successful outcome."
Siris was a vital teammate supporting RIAC and the consultant teams in a challenging, $87M airport development program at T.F. Green Airport. The program involved several projects that had the potential for numerous technical complications and community sensitivities, including land acquisition, obstruction removal, sound attenuation, road relocation, FAA Navaids, airfield development and EMAS.
In all projects, Siris’s efficiency, straightforward responsiveness, leadership capabilities, and overall flexibility set the stage for collaboration between all FAA lines of business. He recommended an FAA Safety Assessment for the complex Construction Safety and Phasing Plan in a way that did not affect the design and construction schedule. Siris took on a leadership role to push ahead with the assessment and ushered the process to stay ahead of schedule, providing tremendous benefits for the program as a whole. He also streamlined considerations for FAA Modifications to Standards for the projects; what often takes many months to accomplish, took weeks.
His management of EMAS design approvals ensured the configurations were well-coordinated with the overall project design requirements. In particular, his facilitation of the EMAS designs with FAA approach lighting and Navaid systems was an exemplary effort that raised the bar for similar projects nationwide.
Siris’s engineering career began over 30 years ago with Massachusetts Highway, where he was a resident engineer during the reconstruction of Boston’s Southeast Expressway. He started his career in aviation when he was hired by FAA’s Technical Operations Division. There, he spent five years building a microwave communications link network throughout New England Region and also established numerous Airport Surveillance Radar Facilities including those at Boston’s Logan Airport, T.F. Green Airport in Providence and the airport at Nantucket Island.
He then made the leap to the FAA’s Airports Division where he works today doing engineering and project management for the Airport Improvement Program (AIP). He has overseen runway, taxiway, safety area and airport expansion projects in all six New England states over his career, to also include residential sound insulation programs at Boston and Providence. He has also been FAA’s project manager for major runway extension projects at Portland, Maine and Providence, Rhode Island. He has served as the Airports Division lead in Obstruction Evaluation and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) during portions of his career.
