Matt Lifsey, PE, DBIA
Carolinas Operations Manager
Matt joined Neel-Schaffer in 2016 and serves as Carolinas Operations Manager, based in the firm’s Columbia (SC) office.
A registered PE in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee, Matt has more than 26 years of experience in a wide variety of engineering and management roles. Matt is a Vice President with the firm and serves in a management and business development role for Neel-Schaffer, marketing the firm throughout South Carolina and North Carolina.
Matt also leads Neel-Schaffer’s 11-member Design-Build Advisory Group, a collection of engineers from across the company with experience in the Design-Build process. Matt holds certification from the Design-Build Institute of America, and has a unique understanding of best practices in every phase of Design-Build project delivery, including from the owner’s perspective as well as from the private sector’s perspective.
Matt served as the Chief Engineer of another Columbia, S.C., project management firm from 2014-2016, and prior to that he worked for the South Carolina Department of Transportation for 24 years.
From 2007-2014, he served as Lowcountry Regional Production Engineer for the SCDOT. Additionally, from 2011-2014 he was responsible for all contract documents, processes/practices, and procurement efforts for all design-build projects statewide, including emergency design-build procurements for FHWA Emergency Relief funded projects. His efforts were instrumental in the implementation and creation of SCDOT’s design-build division in 2014.
Matt’s experience spans transportation design, project management, and oversight of some of the largest and most complex infrastructure improvement projects in South Carolina. His expertise includes program/project management, local sales tax program management, complex highway financing, intergovernmental agreements, highway plan production, design-build procurement/processes, fee estimates, contract negotiations, project cost accounting, as well as principal-in-charge duties, operations, and business development.
Recent projects Matt has been involved with include the SCDOT I-20/I-26/I-126 corridor improvements in Lexington and Richland counties, the SCDOT I-526 corridor improvement in Charleston County, the Richland County sales tax program as a design-build advisor, the $556 million Mark Clark Expressway, the $283 million Port Access Road, and the $200 million US 17 ACE Basin.
