Howard Ways is the Chief Operating Officer for the District Department of Transportation. Howard has 20+ years of leadership and management experience in urban planning and real estate development including responsibility for over $900million in public private partnership projects. Howard was most recently Associate Professor and Director for Jefferson University’s Master of Science in Real Estate Development Program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Ways is no stranger to District government. Howard worked on various policy initiatives, including housing policy, helping to rewrite the city’s condemnation law, targeted public investments and workforce development. He completed the city's first green collar jobs demand analysis. He led the Home Again Initiative to acquire vacant and abandoned property and repurpose it for mixed income housing. He also led the planning effort on reuse of excess school facility space and managed the vacant property acquisition and disposition process. Howard also served as the director of Planning and Sustainability for the University of the District of Columbia where he completed the university's first Strategic Sustainability Plan.
Howard is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), and the American Planning Association (APA).
Howard earned a B.A. in Architecture from Temple University, M.S. in City and Regional Planning from Morgan State University and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).