About Deanna Venker, PE

Deanna Venker of St. Louis, St. Louis County chief operations officer, earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Missouri S&T in 1994. Her career journey began with internships at the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), where she gained experience during the floods of 1993 and 1994. After graduation, she began a 22-plus-year career at MoDOT, becoming the youngest area engineer in the state at 29. Venker contributed significantly to high-profile projects in St. Louis, including the new Interstate 64, the new Mississippi River bridge, the City Arch River 2015, and the Seismic Retrofit of the I-64 double-deck bridge. As commissioner of traffic for the city of St. Louis, she managed a $10 million budget, implementing innovative measures like the city’s first traffic calming policy and a program to replace 55,000 streetlights with LEDs to enhance pedestrian safety. Venker joined St. Louis County government in 2019, eventually becoming chief operations officer under county executive Sam Page. She manages 11 departments and focuses on alignment, efficiency and effective collaboration to achieve departmental goals. Venker is as a costume director for productions with New City School and KTK productions.  She also extends her dedication to community improvement with her family through their property management company, with support from her father, Stephen Venker, a 1970 Missouri S&T mechanical engineering graduate, and her mother, Linda Venker. Venker is married to Chief Sam Dotson III, Amtrak’s chief of police, and their daughter, Delaney Venker, is a sophomore at Visitation Academy of St. Louis. Venker enjoys softball, white water rafting, zip-lining, and skiing. She and her husband share a passion for flipping and renovating properties.