“Pat and Ronnie are veteran transportation professionals who together with Janno form the dynamic team the MTA needs at this moment. Pat and Ronnie will assume the day-to-day leadership of the MTA and ensure that our customers are always our first priority,” Lhota says. “The plan I recently introduced is ambitious, aggressive, and requires dedicated leadership ensuring operational excellence and long-term innovation – which is exactly what the team in the Office of the Chairman will provide.”

Also on Thursday, the Port Authority Board of Commissioners elected Kevin O'Toole as chairman of the Port Authority Board and approved Rick Cotton, a former top executive at NBC Universal, who most recently served as Gov. Cuomo's special counsel for interagency initiatives, as the agency's new executive director. Cotton replaces executive director Foye, effective at 8 a.m. on Aug. 14.

New York

NEW YORK CITY—Patrick Foye, who left his post as executive director of the Port Authority earlier this week , has been named president of the troubled Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Newly named MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota, trying to cope with the “Summer of Hell,” announced on Thursday the appointment of Foye as president of the MTA and Veronique Hakim as managing director of the MTA. Both will serve in the newly created “Office of the Chairman. Foye and Hakim will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the MTA with Foye charged with leading innovation and modernization initiatives, while Hakim will be responsible for the operations of the authority, the MTA states.

Foye was the executive director of The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and president of PATH since November 2011. Prior to joining the Port Authority, he served as deputy secretary for economic development for Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Foye was a mergers and acquisitions partner at Skadden Arps and managing partner of the firm's Brussels, Budapest and Moscow offices. He was also an EVP with real estate investment trust AIMCO.

Hakim has served as interim executive director of the MTA since January 2017. In 2015 she was named president of MTA New York City Transit returning to the MTA after an earlier 23-year career at the authority. She has also previously served as the executive director of NJ TRANSIT for a year and a half, and nearly four years as executive director of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

“Pat and Ronnie are veteran transportation professionals who together with Janno form the dynamic team the MTA needs at this moment. Pat and Ronnie will assume the day-to-day leadership of the MTA and ensure that our customers are always our first priority,” Lhota says. “The plan I recently introduced is ambitious, aggressive, and requires dedicated leadership ensuring operational excellence and long-term innovation – which is exactly what the team in the Office of the Chairman will provide.”

Also on Thursday, the Port Authority Board of Commissioners elected Kevin O'Toole as chairman of the Port Authority Board and approved Rick Cotton, a former top executive at NBC Universal, who most recently served as Gov. Cuomo's special counsel for interagency initiatives, as the agency's new executive director. Cotton replaces executive director Foye, effective at 8 a.m. on Aug. 14.