Joseph Crupi Named Deputy Commissioner for Public Buildings and Santhosh Chemban Named Engineering Audit Officer

Joseph Crupi Named Deputy Commissioner for Public Buildings and Santhosh Chemban Named Engineering Audit Officer

Ian Michaels, 646-939-6514, [email protected]

(Long Island City, NY - October 20, 2025) Acting Commissioner Eduardo del Valle of the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) announced two senior leadership appointments today as Joseph Crupi has been named Deputy Commissioner for Public Buildings and Santhosh Chemban has been named the agency's Engineering Audit Officer. Both appointments became effective last month.

Joe Crupi and Santhosh Chemban represent the type of smart and dynamic leadership that DDC needs as it takes on growing responsibilities related to climate change and as it implements construction reform intended to save taxpayers both time and money," said Acting Commissioner Eduardo del Valle. "DDC is constantly evolving, and Crupi and Chemban will work to make sure the agency is operating at peak efficiency while it delivers the next generation of New York's critical capital projects."

Deputy Commissioner Joseph Crupi has over 30 years of experience in public design and construction. He is a licensed professional engineer and attended the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art where he obtained both a B.S. and M.S. of Civil Engineering. He also holds a Juris Doctor from Fordham University and is a licensed patent attorney.

Mr. Crupi joined DDC at the agency's inception in 1996 as a civil engineering intern and advanced through the ranks to the level of Assistant Commissioner in the Infrastructure Division. He moved to the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in 2018 to head their Construction Management Unit and returned to DDC as Associate Commissioner in Public Buildings in 2023. Some noteworthy projects under his purview in his career include connections to the City's 3rd Water Tunnel; the Reconstruction of Times Square; Bus Rapid Transit Routes; the Reconstruction of Houston Street river to river; Frederick Douglass Circle; and the Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center, one of the agency's first design-build projects, which is scheduled to open in Brooklyn later this year at least three years faster than would have been possible with traditional lowest bidder contracting.

Deputy Commissioner Crupi takes over the Division of Public Buildings with a portfolio of over 200 projects valued at $6 billion including the design and construction of firehouses, libraries, cultural institutions, clinics and more.

In the second appointment, Santhosh Chemban becomes DDC's Engineering Audit Officer, where he will lead a team that facilitates prompt payments to vendors while ensuring the City receives appropriate value for taxpayer funds. A civil engineer with over 30 years of civil engineering, construction project management, and contract auditing experience, Mr. Chemban joined DDC in 2001. He was most recently Executive Director of the same office.

Mr. Chemban is a licensed professional engineer and holds certifications as a Project Management Professional as well as Certified Construciton Manager. He has also been a Senior Project Manager in DDC's Health Program Unit, where he managed projects including the $80 million Bronx New Family Intake Center. He was also a Project Officer for the NYC School Construction Authority (SCA), where he managed all apsects of major renovations of public school buildings.

More timely payments to contractors as well as better auditing of performance is an important element of DDC's Strategic Blueprint for Construciton Excellence and is one strategy the agency has employed in the last several years to improve relations with vendors with the goal of improving capital project delivery.

About the NYC Department of Design and Construction
The Department of Design and Construction is the City's primary capital construction project manager. In supporting Mayor Adams' long-term vision of growth, sustainability, resiliency, equity and healthy living, DDC provides communities with new or renovated public buildings such as firehouses, libraries, police precincts, and new or upgraded roads, sewers and water mains in all five boroughs. 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.