Houston Selects Haddock As Public Works Director, Engineer

HOUSTON, TX — Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has named Carol Ellinger Haddock as director of the city Public Works and Engineering Department. Haddock is a licensed professional engineer who has worked in the private sector as well as city, county and federal governments.

The department, with more than 3,900 trained employees and a $2.1 billion budget, is the largest of its kind in the United States with accreditation by the American Public Works Association. It manages and plans the city’s infrastructure, including streets, traffic signals, drainage, distribution of water, treatment of wastewater and permitting of public and private construction.

Haddock has worked in the city department since 2005 and has served as acting director since July.

"To head a department that is so essential to the basic services on which all Houstonians rely, the city needs a uniquely positioned Public Works chief who delivers customer-friendly results on an hour-to-hour basis while keeping an eye on a vision for an even better city in the future," Turner said. "Carol Ellinger Haddock is that person.

"Along with other city departments, PWE faces the new challenge of helping to build a more flood-resistant, resilient city for future generations, and it’s our fortune that Carol has experience in that arena, too.”

Haddock was the Harris County Flood Control District’s program manager of Project Brays, a $480 million project that has already started reducing flooding in the Brays Bayou watershed.

She also was a congressional fellow on the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in 2004 and previously worked as an assistant project manager for Klotz Associates Inc. in Houston.

With City Council approval of her appointment, Haddock will be the first woman to serve as the city’s PWE director.

Haddock graduated with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Rice University and a master of arts degree in public administration from the University of Houston.

She serves on the American Society of Civil Engineers board of directors and was a member of Leadership Houston, Class XXIV. The numerous professional awards she received include the ASCE Houston branch’s Award of Honor in 2014.

Haddock is a trustee of the Friends of the Texas Room, which supports the collections of the Texas and Local History Department, the Archives and Manuscripts Department, and the Special Collections Department of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center of the Houston Public Library.

Photo courtesy of City of Houston