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DDC’s Freddys Hernandez Named a National “Top Young Professional” by Engineering News-Record
Ian Michaels, 646-939-6514, michaelia@ddc.nyc.gov
(Long Island City, NY – January 12, 2026) Acting Commissioner Eduardo del Valle of the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) announced today that Assistant Commissioner Freddys Hernandez from the City’s critical Borough-Based Jails program has been named to Engineering News-Record’s 2026 national list of Top 20 Young Professionals in the country. He had previously been named a Top Young Professional in the publication’s East edition encompassing the mid-Atlantic region, New York and New England, and then advanced in the competition to the national list. Mr. Hernandez is currently an Assistant Commissioner leading the City’s $16 billion Borough-Based Jails (BBJ) program.
Freddys is a seasoned construction executive with over 15 years of experience managing high-value, technically complex projects across New York City, and he excels at every criteria required to be an ENR Top Young Professional,” said Acting Commissioner del Valle. “His leadership has been critical to the success of the BBJ program, the City’s largest public works program in decades, as he oversees planning, design, and construction for all four of the new state-of-the-art facilities that will eventually replace Rikers Island. Congratulations to Freddys for this well-deserved national recognition.”
To be eligible for the award honoring outstanding young construction and design professionals, participants must be under the age of 40 as of January 1, 2026 and they must be nominated by a peer. Nominees are required to have had an impact in their respective fields; to exhibit exceptional leadership qualities; to have made substantial career progress; to be involved in their community involvement; and to have created landmark projects in the region where they work.
Assistant Commissioner Hernandez, 35, holds a B.S. in Civil and Structural Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and began his career in the private sector managing transportation and utility infrastructure projects for NYSDOT and the MTA. He later became a Senior Project Manager at AECOM Tishman, delivering more than $4 billion in projects across several industry sectors. His portfolio includes landmark projects such as the International Gem Tower, the renovation of the Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue, and the re-massing of 390 Madison Avenue.
At DDC, he collaborates closely with City Hall, DDC leadership, design-build teams, and community stakeholders to deliver the politically sensitive and technically challenging Borough-Based Jails program. The four new Jails, to be built in Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, are a massive investment by the City in correction reform and are intended to be a stark contrast with the existing jails now on Rikers Island, making conditions more humane for detainees and the family members who visit them, as well as the NYC Department of Correction staff. The new facility in Brooklyn is well into construction while the new jails in Queens and the Bronx are expected to begin construction this year, with the Manhattan jail starting construction in 2027.
As a first-generation immigrant from Cuba, he actively mentors aspiring engineers through the Stevens Technical Enrichment Program (STEP), a long-standing initiative that supports underrepresented students pursuing STEM degrees. He is also a dedicated volunteer in the public schools and parish of his hometown, New Providence, New Jersey, where he regularly participates in school-based STEM programs and parish-led service initiatives that promote education, youth development, and civic engagement.
In the last four years, DDC completed 349 design projects and 285 construction projects, and has recently taken on massive new responsibilities as the City seeks to respond to climate change and to prepare for the closure of Rikers Island jail. DDC is also engaged in a years-long reform effort seeking to change the way City government builds capital projects, and in 2025 published its most recent update to its Strategic Blueprint for construction reform. The agency’s growing design-build program has already seen major success at reducing project timelines, with, for example, the new Orchard Beach Maintenance & Operations facility that DDC built for the NYC Parks Department, in the Bronx; this project is being completed at least 2.6 years faster than would have been possible using the traditional system of lowest bidder design-bid-build contracting. The Borough-Based Jails program that Assistant Commissioner Hernandez manages is the City’s largest design-build program.
About the NYC Department of Design and Construction
The Department of Design and Construction is the City’s primary capital construction project manager, providing New York’s diverse communities in all five boroughs with new or renovated public buildings such as firehouses, libraries, police precincts, and new or upgraded roads, sewers and water mains. To manage this $34 billion portfolio, DDC partners with other City agencies, architects and consultants, whose experience bring efficient, innovative and environmentally-conscious design and construction strategies to City projects. For more information, please visit nyc.gov/ddc.