Robert Puentes is the Vice President and Director of Brookings Metro.
Puentes most recently served as the president and chief executive officer of the Eno Center for Transportation, a non-profit think tank with a mission to shape public debate on critical multimodal transportation issues and build a network of innovative transportation professionals. Prior to joining Eno, Puentes was a senior fellow at Brookings Metro where he led the program’s infrastructure work. Puentes has worked extensively on developing evidence-based solutions to pressing problems local leaders care about: improved accessibility, a healthier climate, and a stronger economy.
Puentes has also served on a variety of other boards and committees including, most recently, the Federal Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity; United for Infrastructure; the Shared Use Mobility Center; the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies Advisory Board; 2100 Infrastructure Commission; and the New York MTA Reinvention Commission. He is a frequent speaker to a variety of groups, a regular contributor in newspapers and other media, and has testified before Congressional committees.
Puentes holds a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Virginia where he served on the Alumni Advisory Board. He was an affiliated professor with Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute and an instructor with Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.