Janno Lieber named as MTA acting board chair and CEO

July 29, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Janno Lieber, the newly named acting board chair and CEO of the MTA. Photo courtesy of MTA

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Transit executive and Brooklynite Janno Lieber, the head of the MTA Construction and Development, will serve as acting board chair and CEO of the MTA effective July 31, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Thursday.

Patrick Foye, who has led the MTA for the past four years, will leave the agency on Friday to step into a new role as interim president and CEO of Empire State Development.

Sarah Feinberg, interim president of MTA New York City Transit (the division of MTA that runs the city’s subways and buses), had been awaiting the OK of the state Senate to become the first woman to serve as board chair.

When her nomination ran into roadblocks and the Senate ended its session on Thursday without confirming her, she decided to leave her interim position as of Friday, an agency spokesperson confirmed. Thus, Lieber, who lives in Victorian Flatbush, will serve in both posts.

“Our public transportation systems will be the backbone of New York’s comeback as more and more people return to work in person,” Governor Cuomo said. “Janno knows what it takes to make the MTA work for the millions of customers who rely on this system every day to get to their destination.”

Riders Alliance Executive Director Betsy Plum said, “In Janno Lieber, Governor Cuomo appoints a seasoned professional with the experience required to do one of New York’s toughest jobs at a critical moment. Now the governor must give Janno the resources to provide what riders need, including by rolling out congestion pricing to finally fix the subway.”

As president of MTA Construction & Development, Lieber oversaw the approval of the groundbreaking $51.5 billion 2020-2024 Capital Program. He successfully managed the on-time and on-budget completion of the L Train Tunnel Project, the historic completion of 11 ADA stations in 2020 despite the COVID-19 public health crisis and the rehabilitation of the F train’s Rutgers Tube under the East River in record time, as well as other projects.

Prior to his work at MTA, Lieber served as president of World Trade Center Properties for 14 years, where he managed the multi-billion-dollar development of Silverstein Properties’ projects at the World Trade Center. Before that, Lieber headed public-private development at Lawrence Ruben Company, and, as a consultant, worked with clients such as Chicago Transit Authority, New Jersey Transit, and Penn Station Redevelopment Corp.

During the Clinton Administration, Lieber served as Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Earlier in his career, Lieber practiced law at the New York firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler and served as a transportation policy advisor in the office of New York City Mayor Ed Koch.

Lieber himself said, “I am excited to get to work leading the MTA’s continued recovery from the pandemic … I thank the governor for the opportunity to serve New Yorkers and support the region’s ongoing revival.”

Lieber is a graduate of Harvard University and New York University Law School.
His wife, Amy Glosser, is a board member of the Hannah Senesh Day School, an independent school in Brooklyn and is the CEO and founder of BYKlyn Indoor Cycling and fitness.