(The Center Square) – The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has a new, permanent board, the governor said.
In a news release, Gov. Charlie Baker said he appointed Betsy Taylor to serve as the chair of the board established through legislation that was signed in July. Taylor has served with the Finance & Audit Committee for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation since 2015.
“I am pleased to appoint this distinguished group that together will bring years of leadership and knowledge to serve on the MBTA Board of Directors,” Baker said in the release. “The expertise and diversity of perspectives that make up this Board will allow the MBTA to continue to focus on providing safe and reliable service to riders as it invests record levels of funding across the system, and I am thankful for the Board’s willingness to serve.”
The board was originally devised in the fiscal year 2021 budget to replace the Fiscal and Management Control Board, according to the release, which was created in the spring of 2015.
Jamey Tesler, transportation secretary and MassDOT chief executive officer, said the organization has improved in recent years.
“The MBTA has become a safer, more reliable and equitable service provider that riders can depend on thanks in large part to the dedicated, strategic and transparent leadership provided over the last few years to address a system that had been overlooked and neglected,” Tesler said in the release. “As the MBTA turns this corner, and we collectively emerge from the pandemic, the General Manager and his team are well positioned to continue to address ridership and revenue challenges, while successfully building on the record capital investments and customer-focused initiatives that have improved on-time performance, safety and reliability. I look forward to working with the Directors to serve as a strategic resource, and see that the MBTA’s progress continues.”
According to the release, the board of directors will consist of seven members, and the secretary of transportation will serve in an ex officio role. It will feature members with experience in transportation operations, transportation planning, housing policy, urban planning or public or private finance.
Members of the MBTA boards of directors include Robert Butler, who serves as president of the Northeast Regional Council of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers; Thomas “Scott” Darling, who is an independent consultant who aids organizations in become safer and more secure; Travis McCready, who is the Executive Director, US Life Sciences Market for JLL; Mary Beth Mello, who is the principal at Mello Transportation Consulting; and Thomas Koch, who serves as Quincy mayor.
The governor, the release reads, will appoint the remaining members, including a rider of the system and a resident of an environmental justice population, in addition to a person recommended by the president of the AFL-CIO.
