BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has appointed Monica Tibbits-Nutt as state secretary of transportation, making permanent a position Tibbits-Nutt has held on an acting basis for two months.
Healey cited Tibbits-Nutt’s role in dealing with ongoing issues with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in announcing the appointment this week, the Boston Herald reports.
“As acting secretary, she hit the ground running by working with the MBTA to prepare a first-of-its-kind plan to fix the tracks by the end of next year,” Healey said in a statement, “taking important steps to integrate climate planning across MassDOT, securing federal funding to support infrastructure needs, and stepping up for communities that were devastated by extreme weather.” The MBTA last week said it would eliminate all 31 miles of slow orders on its rail transit system by the end of 2024 [see “MBTA announces plan to eliminate all slow orders …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 10, 2023].
Tibbits-Nutt became acting secretary when Giana Fiandaca resigned after less than nine months on the job. As acting secretary, she had been a member of the MBTA board.
Holy Moly! At a first quick glance, I thought I was looking at that article picture of corrupt Congressman George Santos, R-NY. Thank heavens it’s not him, where he won’t be trying to make the trains run on time. Whew!!!
Well Charles, as a post-retirement Bay Stater I can only hope and wish Ms. Tibbitts-Nutt well. Gina Fiandaca clearly couldn’t handle the pressure. Perhaps Ms. Tibbits-Nutt is made from stronger stuff.
Pass the political football, never hire an experienced industry veteran leader.
Men and women become state or federal transportation directors for any number of reasons (or lack of reason), ranging from civil engineering background, to generic managerial skills, to steaming political fertlizer such as the incumbent US Sec DOT.
I was a little curious about Monica, as I’m a native Bay Stater myself. According to an article I found on the Internet, Monica has worked extensively on numerous transportation projects, or at least managed/ supervised them. How much credit belongs to underlings cannot be known … but you could say that about any candidate for any managerial position.