MTA’s development, construction, and real estate chief Janno Lieber is expected to take over the massive transit agency’s top position in an acting capacity, according to a report by NY1 [1].
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s outgoing chairman and chief executive officer Pat Foye [2] will have his last day Friday, July 30, before he heads to lead the state’s Empire State Development Corporation in September.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo originally pushed a bill [3] in the state Legislature last month to split the MTA’s leadership into two positions, nominating Lieber for the CEO role managing the agency’s day-to-day, and tapping interim New York City Transit president Sarah Feinberg for the unpaid chairperson job.
Feinberg would have been the first woman [4] to serve in the agency’s top leadership.
But government watchdog groups sounded the alarm [5] about Cuomo’s maneuver during the 11th hour of Albany budget negotiations, saying it would undo reform measures from 2009 to reunify the position in order to keep the Authority’s chief more independent.
The piece of legislation got the thumbs up in the Assembly but didn’t make it to the state Senate.
Feinberg took over as chief of the city’s subways, buses, and para-transit in March 2020, replacing her popular predecessor and “train daddy” Andy Byford, will leave her position on Friday as well, but she told the New York Post [6] she’d consider staying on if Albany lawmakers agree to the leadership split.
It is unclear who will assume the lead of New York City Transit after Feinberg departs.
An MTA spokesman declined to comment.
Lieber was appointed chief development officer in 2017 [7] by Cuomo and he also presides over MTA’s capital construction and manages the agency’s real estate assets.
He previously worked as a real estate executive for Silverstein Properties between 2003-2017, leading the firm’s effort to rebuild the World Trade Center site after 9/11.
Before that, he served in the administrations of President Bill Clinton and Mayor Ed Koch and worked as an attorney in private practice.
[1] https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2021/07/29/mta-to-get-new--acting--chief-as-agency-undergoes-leadership-shakeup
[2] https://www.amny.com/transit/mta-chairman-bids-farewell-at-final-board-meeting/
[3] https://www.amny.com/transit/state-pols-pull-bill-to-split-mta-leadership-role-after-concerns-of-cuomo-power-grab/
[4] https://www.amny.com/transit/sarah-feinberg-mta-chair/
[5] https://reinventalbany.org/2021/06/watchdog-statement-no-more-albany-backroom-deals-on-mta-governance/
[6] https://nypost.com/2021/07/29/feinberg-leaving-nyc-transit-after-more-than-a-year-as-interim-boss/
[7] https://new.mta.info/people/janno-lieber
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