Center for Ports & Waterways

Texas A&M Transportation Institute
1747 Pennsylvania Ave. Suite 400
Room 400
Washington, DC 20006
(979) 317-2560
[email protected]

Vicente (“Vince”) Mantero is the Director of the Center for Ports & Waterways at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), where he leads research, policy development, and stakeholder engagement to strengthen U.S. maritime competitiveness, improve freight system performance, and support national security priorities. In this role, he advances TTI’s nationally recognized maritime portfolio, fostering partnerships with ports, state and local agencies, and the private sector to address pressing challenges in supply chain resilience, digitalization, and infrastructure investment.

With more than 25 years of experience in maritime and freight policy, planning, and program management, Mr. Mantero has held senior leadership positions across the federal government, port authorities, and private industry. At the U.S. Maritime Administration, he directed the Office of Ports & Waterways Planning and managed the U.S. Marine Highway Program, leading interagency initiatives and advising senior officials on port investment and supply chain resilience. At the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Freight Management and Operations, he oversaw national freight research and operations programs, directed the Freight Data Innovations portfolio, and helped develop performance measures and analysis tools now used by states and MPOs nationwide.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Mantero served with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where he managed regional freight planning and infrastructure initiatives, and in the private sector, where he supported public agencies on freight systems planning, statewide multimodal strategies, and infrastructure investment prioritization.

Mr. Mantero holds a Master of City and Regional Planning from The Ohio State University and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology.