Dwayne Bernal

Dwayne Bernal is the Co-Founder and President of Royal, an industry-leading small business focused on engineering possibilities that enhance and restore the communities and environments in which it operates. In 2005, Dwayne established Royal to meet the vast engineering, recovery, and coastal restoration needs of the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As President, he is responsible for the company's internal strategy and operations, and oversees Business Development, Government/Regulatory Affairs, and Client Relations activities. Before founding Royal, Dwayne worked as an engineer with Hartman Engineering, Barowka & Bonura Engineers and Consultants and served as a Second and First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Dwayne serves as the President of the Housing Authority of New Orleans, leading the appointed Board of Commissioners responsible for returning public housing in New Orleans to local control after the U.S Dept. of Housing and Urban Development placed it under receivership in 2002. He is a founding member of the Coast Builders Coalition, a non-profit trade association comprised of private sector companies in the business of coastal protection and restoration that brings together leaders from the private and public sectors to promote an effective and efficient program to sustain the Gulf Coast. A cancer survivor, Dwayne serves on the Mid-South Regional Board for the American Cancer Society, and speaks widely on African Americans having the highest death rate and shortest survival rate of any racial/ethnic group in the US, complex reflections of social and economic disparities more than biological differences. Dwayne earned his Bachelor's in Engineering Management from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and holds an MBA from Tulane University's A.B. Freeman School of Business.  He is a member of the 2016 Class of Henry Crown Fellows and the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute.