NEW YORK CITY-Christopher O. Ward, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is reportedly set to resign by the end of October, unnamed sources told the New York Times late Thursday. The announcement comes on the heels of the Port Authority’s recent fare and toll increase and the 10th anniversary of 9/11, both said to be hallmarks of Ward’s tenure.
The Times said the decision poses an issue for Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, who now must replace Ward as well as Jay Walder, who resigned as chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in July. The article also alludes to an unstable working relationship between Ward and Cuomo. GlobeSt.com previously reported that Ward called for stronger leadership at both the local and federal levels at a New York Building Congress event on August 31, just two weeks before the opening of the 9/11 Memorial.
“If we are going to construct the next generation of critical projects, we need to restore the critical constituency and come back to our pragmatic center,” he said. “As a nation, a city, and of builders, current politics cannot endure,” Ward added. “We will not only lose the great public works projects that made us great, but we will lose our democratic center that has fundamentally bound us as a nation.”
Ward, who was appointed as executive director in 2008, is the Port’s highest paid employee and earns a salary of $304,922, the Times said. He previously served as the Port Authority’s chief of planning and external affairs, as well as director of port redevelopment from 1997 to 2002.
Prior to being appointed to executive director, Ward spent a year as CEO of American Stevedoring Inc., a port services company headquartered at the Brooklyn-Port Authority Marine Terminal with major operations at the Elizabeth-Port Authority Marine Terminal. Prior to American Stevedoring, Ward served as commissioner for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection from 2002 to 2005.
Ward currently provides oversight of the region’s five airports, four bridges, two tunnels, three bus terminals, PATH, ports and the World Trade Center redevelopment, totaling $929 billion in total investments. Calls to Port Authority and Cuomo’s office were not returned to GlobeSt.com for this article.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
