Margaret Forgione, BS, Human Development and Family Relations, 1989
Margaret Forgione attended UConn in the 1980’s. While attending UCONN, she was fortunate to have many hands-on experiences that shaped her growth and interest in public service, such as an internship in Hartford at La Casa de Puerto Rico, volunteering at the Mansfield Training School, and serving as a Husky Ambassador in the Admissions office to assist UConn applicants. Margaret says that a public policy course in the Fall of her senior year changed her life by opening up the possibility of working in government and affecting change at a broader level. As a result of this class she applied to Columbia University’s Masters of Public Administration program. Ever since, she’s had a lifelong love of New York City and has been proud to effect change on its streets.
In the years after completing her master’s degree, Margaret held several jobs in New York, including as analyst for the Homes for the Homeless and Senior Analyst at the Office of the Mayor. In 1994, she began working at the New York City Department of Transportation, where she has worked as a special assistant to the first deputy commissioner, the director of the Adopt-a-Highway and Banner Programs, the Manhattan Borough Commissioner, and Chief Operations Officer. In 2021, Margaret was appointed as First Deputy Commissioner, where she serves as second in command and works closer with City Hall. Her work includes managing all aspects of the agency’s 5,000+ employees across all operational divisions, ranging from traffic operations and transportation planning, ferries, bridges, and roadway repair and maintenance, and emergency responses. Some of the agency’s accomplishments in recent years that she has advanced include almost 1,400 miles of bike lanes, a bikeshare program including almost 20,000 bikes, and more recently during the COVID-19 pandemic, new programs such as Open Restaurants and Open Streets.
UConn is in a family affair for the Forgione family. In addition to Margaret, all of her siblings – Anna, Helen, and James Forgione – attended UConn. In addition, Margaret met her husband, Mark Chernauskas, at UConn. They both lived in Beard Dorm which was on South Campus at the time. They currently live in the Bronx, and have two daughters. Mark is retired from General Electric and keeps busy as a beekeeper and working at Captain Lawrence Brewery.