New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Dec. 9 that she is nominating Director of State Operations Kathryn Garcia as the next executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Hochul also announced that she will name Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Operations Commissioner Jackie Bray as the new director of state operations.
“I have long believed that my greatest talent is finding talent, and I am fortunate to have two of New York’s most talented public servants as my director of state operations,” said Hochul. “I am incredibly grateful to have had Kathryn Garcia serve in that role for more than four years, during which time she helped us transform New York for the better.”
Hochul cited Garcia’s work in helping manage the Gateway Tunnel project and the Interborough Express among other initiatives. Garcia served as commissioner for the New York City Sanitation Department from 2014 to 2020 and ran for mayor in the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary, losing by 0.8 percentage point to Eric Adams. She also previously served as interim chair and CEO of the New York City Housing Authority and led New York’s emergency food program during the COVID-19 crisis.
Garcia said, “I’m enormously proud of what we have accomplished over the last four years: launching the largest infrastructure project in modern history with the Gateway Development Commission; reducing traffic and generating critical funding for the MTA through congestion pricing; and advancing the I-81 Viaduct project to reunite Syracuse’s Southside. I know Jackie Bray will bring expert leadership to the team as she steps into the director role, and I look forward to continuing to serve Gov. Hochul and New Yorkers as executive director of the Port Authority.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy renominated Chairman Kevin O’Toole on Nov. 20. New York’s governor appoints the authority’s executive director while New Jersey’s governor names the board chairman.
The next executive director would succeed Rick Cotton, who served as executive director of the bistate agency for 8.5 years. Cotton, the longest-serving executive director of the Port Authority since the 1940s, has presided over some of the agency’s most transformative projects in its history. He and O’Toole have overseen projects that have transformed the agency’s bridges, tunnels, seaports, rail transportation and airports. They pushed through institutional reform and navigated the paralyzing COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most difficult operating environments in the Port Authority’s history.
Cotton supported Hochul’s nomination of Garcia as executive director.
“Governor Hochul’s nomination of Kathryn Garcia as the next Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a superb choice,” Cotton said. “I have worked closely with Kathryn for many years. She has deep knowledge of city and state government combined with extraordinary insight and judgment and a collaborative spirit. I could not imagine a government executive better suited to advance the Port Authority’s standards of world-class infrastructure and get things done.”
Garcia would be assuming the executive director’s post as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey embarks on an ambitious infrastructure building plan. Earlier this month, the agency published its proposed new 10-year capital plan that will fund the agency’s agenda through 2035 and build on the projects completed or in progress such as the Midtown Bus Terminal and at the three area airports.
As Commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, Jackie Bray has helped lead the New York state’s emergency management response through extreme weather, infectious disease outbreaks and threats to public safety.
Hochul said her experience coordinating interagency operations makes her the right leader to “continue delivering the government that New Yorkers deserve.”
