New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced that Veronique Hakim will serve as the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority interim executive director following the retirement, on January 31, of MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas Prendergast. A seven-person committee is currently conducting a search for a permanent chair and CEO. MTA Vice Chairman Fernando Ferrer will serve as acting chairman during the search.
Hakim has spent more than 24 years at the MTA. She served as president of New York City Transit since December 2015. Prior to that, Hakim was the executive director of NJ TRANSIT for a year and a half. She also worked nearly four years as executive director of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.
“Ronnie Hakim is ready to embrace the challenge of running the nation’s largest transportation network during this transition,” said Governor Cuomo. “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. I look forward to receiving their recommendations,” continued Governor Cuomo.
“I want to thank Governor Cuomo for entrusting me with this incredible responsibility and Tom Prendergast for the fine example he set during his years leading the MTA,” remarked Hakim. "The MTA has been my professional home for more than two decades. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as interim Executive Director leading the dedicated men and women who keep this region moving day in and day out.”
Ferrer said, "The MTA is vital to the functioning of New York and it is the economic engine behind this region’s incredible growth. Tom Prendergast set a high bar for leadership during his distinguished career at the MTA and it has been an honor to work with him. I am looking forward to assuming the acting chairman role and partnering with Ronnie Hakim while we conduct this search.”
“Governor Cuomo rightly recognizes that the MTA will be in good hands with Ronnie Hakim,” stated Prendergast. “Ronnie has a deep understanding of our regional transportation network from her exemplary stewardship of New York City Transit to her time leading regional commuter rail and highway agencies. I wish her the best of luck and I look forward to serving on the search committee that will choose the next permanent leader of this agency.”
The search committee is comprised of:
Tom Prendergast - former chairman and CEO of the MTA;
Joseph Lhota - senior vice president and vice dean, chief of staff of NYU Langone Medical Center, and former chairman and CEO of the MTA;
Fernando Ferrer - vice chairman of the MTA Board;
Kathryn Wylde - president and CEO of Partnership for NYC;
Scott Rechler - chairman, Regional Planning Association and former vice chairman of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey;
John Samuelsen - executive vice president of the Transport Workers Union; and
Rodney Slater - former U.S. Secretary of Transportation.