Dana Levenson is the Chief Financial Officer of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. He has oversight over the financial matters of the Commonwealth’s airports, commuter rail and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, highways, and Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Prior to MDOT, Dana spent four years at The Royal Bank of Scotland as Managing Director in charge of the firm’s infrastructure banking business in the Americas. In this capacity, he lead the effort either: a) advising investors in large infrastructure assets of the most effective financing tools available and arranging the financing; or b) advising sellers of infrastructure assets as to methodologies to maximize value.
Investors included global private equity sponsor funds, pension funds and international construction/concession companies; sellers included state and local governments and private corporations. Infrastructure assets transacted included: Airports, Harbors/Marinas, Lotteries, On- and Off-Street Parking Systems, Ports, Renewable & Contracted Power, Toll Roads & Bridges as well as social infrastructure such as Courthouses, Jails, Hospitals, and Schools, with geographic coverage: extending to Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. Transaction sizes ranged from $200 million to $10+ billion.
Prior to joining RBS, Dana was the City of Chicago’s Chief Financial Officer from 2004 to 2007 with responsibility for the City Comptroller’s Office, the Departments of Budget and Management, Procurement Services, and the Department of Revenue. In particular, he was responsible for the long-term lease concession sales of both the Chicago Skyway for $1.83 billion in 2005 and the Chicago Downtown Parking System in 2006 for $563 million. He also led the effort to raise the City’s bond ratings to their highest levels since 1978.While at RBS, Levenson suggested to Mayor Richard M, Daley that a bi-partisan commission be established to study the City of Chicago’s pensions, with the intention of supplying a solution to correct the under-funded status of the City’s retirement plans. The result was the report of the Commission to Strengthen Chicago’s Pensions, which Levenson co-chaired, which was released in March, 2010. Before joining the City of Chicago, Levenson was a Managing Director with Bank One in Chicago and with Bank of America in both Chicago and London. Prior to that, he spent more than 11 years at Kidder, Peabody in New York City, eventually running its Fixed-Income Syndicate Desk. Levenson began his career in New York at Chemical Bank.
Dana received his M.B.A. from New York University in 1985 and his B.A., with honors, in European History from Brown University in 1979. Dana graduated from Worcester Academy. He is a past president of the Investment Association of New York and a former Governor of the Bond Club of New York. He served on the boards of the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund and La Rabida Children’s Hospital and remains active on the boards of the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, and Worcester (MA) Academy. Dana has also co-chaired the Chicago Gun-Turn-In and was a Commissioner of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Finance Commission as appointed by the U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary, Mary Peters.
Dana and his wife Chris live in Worcester, Massachusetts with their two children.