Benjamin R. Dierker

Benjamin R. Dierker is Executive Director of the Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure (Aii), the nation’s only think tank dedicated to infrastructure. His work focuses on public policy research, writing, and communication across complex infrastructure issues, with particular emphasis on the economic, legal, regulatory, and operational systems that shape how infrastructure is built, governed, protected, and improved.

Benjamin is coauthor of Holding Back Disaster: Protecting Lives and Infrastructure Through Excavation Damage Prevention, from Routledge. He has written extensively on construction and utility safety, excavation damage prevention, dig laws, pipeline safety, transportation policy, energy systems, infrastructure resilience, technology adoption, and regulatory innovation. His work emphasizes the systems behind infrastructure safety – the incentives, standards, legal frameworks, information flows, and operational practices that determine whether risk is reduced before damage occurs.

At Aii, Benjamin has authored or edited over 75 reports and policy papers, including Measuring the Underground, Diving Deeper into Damage Prevention, the 2024 Damage Prevention Report Card, Improving Upon Our Dig Laws, and Unseen Threats to U.S. Infrastructure Reliability. His writing and analysis have appeared in or been cited by outlets and publications including The Hill, Utility Dive, Houston Chronicle, New York Post, RealClearEnergy, Energy Central, Construction Executive, Morning Consult, Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Pipeline & Gas Journal, and others. His work has also been cited in academic and industry publications related to infrastructure, energy, law, public policy, and damage prevention.

Benjamin has presented research and commentary at national, international, academic, and industry events on damage prevention, energy systems, utility safety, infrastructure resilience, and regulatory innovation. He regularly works across policy, industry, and public audiences to translate complex infrastructure challenges into practical, evidence-based guidance.

He holds a J.D. from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, a Master of Public Administration from the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, and a B.A. in Economics from Texas A&M University. Benjamin also serves as a board member of the North American Private Utility Association (NAPUA) and chairs a damage prevention initiative with ACTS Now, where he works to advance practical strategies for reducing excavation damage, improving information flow, and strengthening the systems that protect buried infrastructure.