MA: MBTA announces board chair Thomas Glynn will step down

MBTA Board Chair Thomas Glynn will step down and be replaced by a long-time board member and former mayor of Lynn Thomas McGee, Gov. Maura Healey announced Monday.

“Working together with Secretary Tibbits-Nutt, General Manager Eng and the entire Board, Tom (Glynn) has overseen a transformative period at the T and worked to improve safety and reliability across the system,” Healey said. “I thank him for his constant guidance and wisdom and wish him the best of luck in this next chapter.”

Glynn, who has led the 9-member MBTA Board of Directors since May 2023, will step down from the position on Nov. 1.

Healey said she is appointing McGee as the next chair. McGee has served on the MBTA board since April 2023 and the MassDOT Board of Directors since June 2023.

Before coming to the T, he was elected the mayor of Lynn and served in the Massachusetts state Senate, during which he chaired the Transportation Committee, as state representative and as an Assistant District Attorney for Essex County.

McGee “knows how critical our transportation infrastructure is for the communities in and around Boston, and across our entire state,” Healey said, adding he “has been a trusted and reliable voice on the MBTA Board.”

“We have done important work together since coming together as a Board, and I’m looking forward to partnership further with Secretary Tibbits-Nutt and General Manager Eng to deliver on our promise of a world-class public transportation system that we can all be proud of,” McGee said.

The MBTA has faced another wave of criticism in recent weeks, with a derailment on the Green Line sending riders to the hospital and a bus fatally hitting a pedestrian in a crosswalk at Forest Hills.

State officials broadly praised Glynn’s leadership, noting initiatives to remove slow zones on every subway line, launch reduced fares for low-income riders, and improve hiring and retention.

Glynn has had a long career in public service, working as the General Manager of the MBTA under Gov. Michael Dukakis, CEO of Massport under Gov. Deval Patrick, Deputy Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration, Chief Operating Officer of Partners Healthcare and co-Chair of the Public Transportation Committee for the Healey-Driscoll Transition Committee.

“This Board showed up every day with the urgency necessary to meet the challenges facing the T, and we refused to settle for the status quo,” said Glynn. “As a result, we’ve been able to deliver major improvements across the system and dramatically improve safety and reliability.”

Echoing other transportation officials, Glynn said he was “confident that the T will continue making important progress under the leadership of Tom McGee.”

The MBTA Board of Directors includes Secretary Tibbits-Nutt, Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch, Framingham Mayor Charlie Sisitsky, Robert Butler, Eric Goodwine, Mary Skelton Roberts and Chanda Smart. Healey stated she will appoint new member to fill the open seat “in the near future.”

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