Providence Engineering Society Presents Frank Romeo with 2016 Freeman Award

March 3, 2016

Romeo Freeman AwardLINCOLN, RI – BETA Group, Inc. (BETA) is proud to announce that our President and CEO, Frank Romeo, PE, has been named recipient of the Providence Engineering Society’s prestigious Freeman Award for 2016. The Freeman Award is presented to individuals that have demonstrated engineering excellence and advanced the engineering profession throughout their career.

Scott D’Amelio, President of the Providence Engineering Society, presented Frank with the award at a ceremony on February 25th.

”Frank is a truly deserving recipient of the Freeman Award,” Scott was quoted as saying. “Upon review of this nomination from his peers, Frank was unanimously selected by the Board of Directors as this year’s award recipient. His technical abilities coupled with his support and promotion of the Engineering profession are the very attributes for which the award is intended.”

Surrounded by peers, coworkers, and family, Frank thanked the Board for their decision and credited BETA Chairman and Founder Michael E. Grilli, PE with providing mentorship that helped guide his career. Building upon the mission and founding principles that Mike originally established has enabled Frank to continue to grow the company into a full service Engineering and Landscape Architecture company. Mike was honored to be acknowledged by Frank.

“The Freeman Award has been previously bestowed upon many ‘industry giants’ that we have admired during our careers. With Frank as a recipient, one more ‘giant’ has been added to the list,” Mike added.

Frank graduated from Northeastern University in 1974 with a BS in Civil Engineering, and then continued on to earn his MS in Transportation Engineering in 1977. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. During the first decade of his career, Frank was primarily employed in the local consulting industry as a Transportation Planner and Traffic Engineer. In this capacity he worked on the planning and design of several major statewide transportation initiatives, including the Route 4 Extension in North Kingstown and the Woonsocket Industrial Highway (RI Route 99). Frank also gained valuable public sector experience, serving as City Traffic Engineer, and later, City Engineer in Warwick, Rhode Island.

Frank’s tenure with BETA began in 1986 as Project Manager on a variety of highway, traffic and transportation planning projects throughout New England. During this time, he served as the Technical Consultant to the North End and Waterfront communities in Boston during construction of the Central Artery project. In 2000, Frank earned the title of President at BETA Group, Inc. Since then, he has been responsible for providing strategic direction and management oversight in all facets of the firm’s operation. He has overseen the growth of the firm, managing mergers and acquisitions, as well as making key strategic hires, resulting in BETA becoming a regional leader with 150 employees in five offices throughout New England. For the last two years, BETA has been named as one of Engineering News Record’s top 500 design firms nationwide.

Frank has stayed active with industry associations through his career. He has served as President of the Rhode Island Consulting Engineers and following his term, chaired their RIDOT Liaison Committee for several years. He has also been an active member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, where he co-chaired the very successful 2007 Northeast Regional Meeting that was held in Providence. He has also served his community as a Planning Board member in North Kingstown for six years.

His involvement in significant state-wide initiatives was also recognized by the Rhode Island State Senate and House of Representatives, who issued proclamations congratulating Frank for this achievement.

In a formal Citizen Citation, Mayor Elorza congratulated Frank and stated the award was “given to an individual from the engineering community who, through their lifelong achievements and contributions to the engineering profession, best exemplifies the commitment of PES member John Ripley Freeman, for whom the award is named.”