NY-Senate Confirmed: 9 MTA Board Members
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
(Photo Courtesy of Marc A. Hermann / MTA)
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has welcomed six new members and three returning members to the Board following the group’s confirmation by the New York State Senate.
Nominated to the MTA Board this year were Lisa Sorin, President of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul; Midori Valdivia, Chief Operating Officer for Coro New York Leadership Center, by New York City Mayor Eric Adams; Frankie Miranda, President and CEO of the Hispanic Federation, by Mayor Adams; Sherif Solimon, Director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Policy and Planning, by Mayor Adams; Sammy Chu, Chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council-Long Island Chapter and CEO for Edgewise Energy, by Suffolk County, N.Y., Executive Steven Bellone; and Blanca López, a Fellow of the New York Immigration and Social Justice Institute’s Immigrant Advocacy Fellowship Program, by Westchester County, N.Y., Executive George Latimer.
Returning are David Mack, Senior Partner of The Mack Company, who was recommended to the Board in 2019 by former Nassau County, N.Y., Executive Laura Curran; Harold Porr III, Deputy County Executive of Orange County, N.Y., who was recommended in 2021 by Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus; and Frank Borelli Jr., Clarkstown, N.Y., Councilman, who was recommended in 2020 by Rockland County, N.Y., Executive Ed Day.
“I am excited to welcome this new group to the MTA Board at a time where the Authority is focused on using innovative strategies to bring riders back to mass transit and to secure new sources of revenue to address a looming multi-million dollar budget deficit,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said. “The six new and three returning members represent our diverse ridership, and I look forward to working with them to make using the MTA’s services more reliable, accessible and affordable for all customers.”
The MTA is governed by a 21-member Board. Members are nominated by the Governor, with four recommended by New York City’s mayor, and one each by the County Executives of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland, and Putnam counties (the members representing the latter four cast one collective vote). The Board also has six rotating non-voting seats held by representatives of organized labor and the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee (PCAC), which serves as a voice for users of MTA transit and commuter facilities.
