Hakim, Ferrer named NYMTA interim heads

New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman and CEO Tom Prendergast, Railway Age’s2017 Railroader of the Year, retires today (Jan. 31) and passes the reins, at least temporarily, to New York City Transit President Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim, named Interim Executive Director. MTA Board Vice Chairman Fernando Ferrer becomes Acting Chairman.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the appointments on Jan. 30, and named a seven-person search committee to find a permanent replacement for Prendergast. In addition to Prendergast and Ferrer (a former Bronx Borough President and current Co-Chairman and Partner at Mercury Public Affairs), the committee includes former MTA Chairman and CEO and current Senior Vice President and Vice Dean, Chief of Staff of NYU Langone Medical Center Joseph Lhota; Partnership for New York City President and CEO Kathryn Wylde; former Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Vice Chairman and current New York Regional Planning Association Chairman and RXR Realty Chairman Scott Rechler; Transport Workers Union Executive Vice President John Samuelsen; and former United States Secretary of Transportation and Washington D.C. law firm Squire Patton Boggs Partner Rodney Slater.

Cuomo said Hakim “is ready to embrace the challenge of running the nation’s largest transportation network during this transition. She is a true transportation professional who has dedicated her life to improving the commute for millions of New Yorkers, and I am confident that in this new role she will continue doing that as we reimagine and modernize the MTA for the 21st century.”

“Under the leadership of Tom Prendergast, the MTA has made dramatic progress, most recently with the successful opening of the long-awaited Second Avenue Subway, and I have directed the search committee to identify candidates who will build on his record of accomplishments,” Cuomo said. I look forward to receiving their recommendations.”