John Cogliano

Cogliano grew up in Canton, Massachusetts, where his family ran a Plant nursery.[1]

He graduated from Boston College with a degree in political science and economics and later studied Administration and Management at Harvard University.[2]

Cogliano worked at his family's nursery until 1991 when his father and uncle decided to sell the business.[1]

In 1991 Cogliano was hired as a project manager for the Massachusetts Division of Capital Planning and Operations. In 1997 he moved to the Massachusetts Highway Department.[1] He was appointed the department's Commissioner in 2002.

John Cogliano served as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Highway Department from 2002 to 2005. As Commissioner, he managed more than 1,800 employees and a budget of $700 million. During his tenure, Cogliano advanced a number of the Romney Administration's key initiatives, such as implementing the Fix it First and Communities First policies, streamlining operations and reducing bureaucratic inefficiencies and Red Tape at the Highway Department, implementing the use of GPS technology to bring accountability to MassHighway's snow and ice operations, accelerating spending on road and bridge projects to a minimum of $450 million a year, and breaking ground on the project to eliminate the Sagamore Rotary. He also helped develop the Romney Administration's Long-Range Transportation Plan, which calls for $31 billion in transportation improvements over the next 20 years and will serve as a blueprint for carrying out projects and policies under his Secretariat.[3]

As Secretary of Transportation, Cogliano instituted a hiring freeze, attempted to streamline operations by putting more than 250 additional employees under his control, and initiated the relocation of the Registry of Motor Vehicles from expensive Copley Square offices to a less expensive downtown location.[4]