A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mr. D’Amato was raised by his Italian immigrant parents who met in Milwaukee in 1958 and strongly encouraged higher education for all of their children. Having an eye for detail and interest on how things were constructed, Mr. D’Amato enrolled in architectural school at the University of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Feeling that architecture was not a good fit, Mr. D’Amato changed his major to civil engineering because he preferred the mathematics and precision required to succeed in this engineering discipline.

Mr. D’Amato graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering. Upon completion of his education, he located to San Francisco and began his career as a junior engineer for the California Department of Transportation.

Strong family connections brought him back to Wisconsin where he began as a project manager at R.A. Smith National and advanced to the position of associate at the end of his 12-year tenure there. His experience there began with a focus on construction field project management, though his natural talent for leadership, organization and policy management took him from fieldwork into upper level corporate management.

Realizing that he had advanced professionally as much as he could at R.A. Smith, in 2001 Mr. D’Amato partnered with longtime friend, client and peer, Abdulhamid Ali to form DAAR Engineering. His corporate business knowledge in the private sector, aligned well with Mr. Ali’s experience working for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in the public sector. They both shared a vision of providing the best quality product and sincere customer service satisfaction to civil engineering clients in southeastern Wisconsin.

In 2001, DAAR Engineering, Inc. was formed, specializing in transportation engineering and construction management. In that first year DAAR had a total of four employees and revenue less than $100,000.00. Over the past several years the area in which work is performed has expanded from the Southeastern Wisconsin Region to include the entire state as well as projects in Illinois, Missouri and the Republic of Iraq.

DAAR has not only expanded in size, but also in its scope of services. In addition to transportation engineering and construction management DAAR also provide services in the following disciplines: survey, land development, land planning, traffic engineering, structural engineering, storm water management/engineering, sub-surface utility engineering and program management.

Mr. D’Amato’s business acumen has been an asset as DAAR prepares to expand further into the international marketplace.