MBTA Deputy General Manager Jeffrey Gonneville was elevated to interim GM, and can take the reins of the beleaguered company on Jan. 4, a day after present chief Steve Poftak steps down.
MassDOT Secretary and CEO Jamey Tesler made the appointment on Thursday, on behalf of outgoing Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration.
It’s a second stint as interim common supervisor for Gonneville, who briefly led the MBTA in 2018, earlier than Poftak turned the GM on Jan. 1, 2019. He’s labored on the T for greater than 20 years, and has a 25-year profession in public transportation.
“Jeff Gonneville has proven his leadership abilities as deputy general manager and in other senior management positions with the T,” Tesler stated in a press release. “Jeff is a seasoned chief and has huge data of all features of the T, from budgeting to service to capital investments.
“I am confident Jeff will be able to guide the MBTA well during this time of transition.”
The appointment was introduced two days after Gov.-Elect Maura Healey stated she had employed an government search agency to conduct a “worldwide” hunt for a everlasting common supervisor, and a day after she was peppered with questions at a press briefing as to why Baker was making the interim appointment.
Gonneville was the highest-ranking MBTA official readily available for a tour that Healey and Lt. Gov.-Elect Kim Driscoll took on the MBTA’s Main Repair Facility in Everett on Wednesday.
There, Healey stated it was “appropriate” for Baker to make the interim appointment, “because there’s still an administration that is ongoing.” Gonneville will turn into interim common supervisor a day earlier than Healey takes workplace.
Healey stated she was aiming to pick out the MBTA’s subsequent common supervisor, an individual with transit operations and administration expertise, inside “weeks,” fairly than a number of months from now.
Gonneville has been on the MBTA for greater than 20 years, working his means as much as the operations ranks. Before turning into deputy common supervisor in 2017, he held “key executive roles” on the T, together with a two-year stint as chief working officer, in keeping with MassDOT.
As COO, Gonneville was tasked with overseeing operation of the MBTA’s gentle and heavy rail strains and the bus system.
According to MassDOT, Gonneville is an energetic participant within the American Public Transportation Association. He is a previous chair of the APTA Bus Technical Maintenance Committee and the Vehicle Maintenance Committee for Northeast Passenger Transportation Association.
He additionally served on panels for the Transit Cooperative Research Program and has represented the MBTA on the APTA Board of Directors.
Gonneville has a bachelor’s diploma in engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”