BOSTON (AP) - The general manager of the Boston area’s troubled public transportation agency is out after just 15 months on the job.
State Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack announced Tuesday that Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority General Manager Luis Ramirez will be replaced by Steve Poftak. He’s the current vice chairman of the MBTA’s fiscal control board.
A statement from the state Department of Transportation said the “MBTA and Ramirez … mutually agreed that the time was right for him to separate” from the agency and pursue other opportunities.
Ramirez signed a three-year contract in August 2017 even though he had no public transit experience, just private sector experience in corporate turnarounds. Under the contract, Ramirez was paid $320,000 a year with the possibility of bonuses. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker defended his administration’s hiring of Ramirez at the time.
Ramirez previously worked at Unisys Corp., Siemens AG and General Electric Corp., where he rose to CEO of its Energy Industrial Solutions business.
Pollack in a statement credited Ramirez with helping work on key initiatives “such as procuring a new operator for The RIDE dispatch center, advocating for bus lanes, and ensuring on-time installation of Positive Train Control” - technology that can automatically slow or stop a speeding train.
Pollack said the decision to go with Poftak was in part a recognition that “seasoned leadership is a tool for success.”
“Steve knows the personnel, he knows the issues, he knows the system,” she said in the statement. “Most of all, Steve knows the importance of accelerating progress toward fixing the MBTA.”
In the same statement, Ramirez acknowledges that he was “brought in to the MBTA from the outside corporate world to bring a fresh business perspective and skills.”
“With the progress we have achieved around financial and operational execution, this is a good time to transition to someone with different skill sets,” he added.
Poftak said he looks forward to leading the transit system.
Poftak has served as vice-chair of the MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board since 2015, and has also worked as executive director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at the Harvard Kennedy School since 2012 and served on the board of directors for the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
He also served as MBTA interim general manager for three months in 2017.
The MBTA, which offers subway, commuter rail, bus and ferry service, came under intense scrutiny after operations were plagued by problems during the winter of 2015.
The governor’s efforts to improve the MBTA became a core issue during his recent successful re-election campaign. Democratic challenger Jay Gonzalez faulted Baker for not pushing ahead fast enough to solve MBTA’s troubles.
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