Rick DiSalvo earned a B.S. from Virginia Tech in 1977 and an M.S. from Virginia Tech in 1979. He has more than 35 years of engineering experience in water and wastewater treatment facility upgrades, utility and drainage improvements, potable water rate studies, environmental site assessments, site characterization and correction action planning and design. A significant portion of his career involved land development, including many athletic projects located on the Virginia Tech campus.

He began his career in 1977 working for the Virginia Department of Health (VDH), Division of Water Programs in Richmond, Va. Before leaving State employment, he was appointed as the Training and Certification Chief, responsible for training and certification of waterworks operators. In the mid- 1980s, he helped to establish a newly opened Richmond branch of Dewberry and Davis, where he worked until taking the Blacksburg Office Manager position with Draper Aden Associates in 1991. He was the Chief Operating Officer for the firm until his retirement in 2014. During his tenure, Mr. DiSalvo served as the Managing Principal on many of the firm’s water and wastewater projects. A notable local project, the NRV Regional Water Authority Joinder, where Montgomery County requested membership into the local water supply formerly known as the Blacksburg, Christiansburg VPI Water Authority. Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors and the localities voted in favor of the Joinder, allowing county residents a future with access to safe and reliable potable water. Lastly, Mr. DiSalvo managed a project that resulted in a regional solution where Pulaski County required additional potable water and the City of Radford had excess capacity. The solution required constructing a pump station at the Radford Water Treatment Plant and pumping excess water through a 24” waterline under the New River into eastern Pulaski, thus eliminating a $14 million plant expansion in Pulaski.

Mr. DiSalvo is a Professional Engineer and is an active member in the Virginia Section of the American Water Works Association (VAAWWA). In 2009, he was elected Chairman of the 1700 member VAAWWA. In 2013, he was awarded the prestigious George Warren Fuller Award, given to select members for their distinguished service to the water supply field in commemoration of sound engineering skill, brilliant diplomatic talent, and constructive leadership. He has been a member since 1978 and continues to hold leadership roles.

Mr. DiSalvo is the current Chair of the Montgomery County, VA Board of Zoning Appeals where he has served since 2005. He is a former Chairman of the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering alumni board and was part of the group that developed the current alumni board mentoring program, which includes student networking events each semester. In 2015, he traveled to Guatemala with Engineers without Borders as a mentor to Virginia Tech students. The group has begun to construct a septic system for a Mayan school in the community of Xix, Guatemala. Another trip is anticipated in 2016.

Mr. DiSalvo resides in Blacksburg with his wife, Susan, who also graduated from Virginia Tech in 1977. He has three grown children, Michael, Betsy and Peter, and one grandson, Charlie. Since retiring, he has become a certified scuba diver and is restoring a 1953 Plymouth Cambridge, which he’s contemplating repainting a flashy maroon and orange. Most importantly, he started a church ministry called His Hands. The ministry is dedicated to assisting elderly and disabled with home repairs. He leads a team in excess of 30 volunteers addressing these needs within the church community.