MTA appoints three to senior leadership roles

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has appointed three officials to senior leadership roles, including Demetrius Crichlow as the 12th permanent president of New York City (NYC) Transit, current MTA Deputy Chief Development Officer Tim Mulligan as MTA’s chief of rolling stock program and Mersida Ibric as the agency’s chief people officer. 

Crichlow

Crichlow has been appointed the president of NYC Transit. Crichlow has served as the interim president of New York City Transit since May 2024, with a focus on safety and service. During his time as MTA interim president, Crichlow oversaw major service changes on the G line, ensuring customers had reliable alternative bus service while the service was closed for a critical signal modernization project. He also oversaw enhanced service on the B, D, J, M, 3 and 5 lines.  

“Demetrius Crichlow spends most of his waking hours thinking about what’s great about transit service and how it can be even better for millions of New Yorkers,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “And that’s exactly who need leading a 24/7 system that moves our lives. Demetrius has proven that he’s the right leader for this moment of challenges and opportunity.” 

Previously, Crichlow led NYC Transit’s department of subways as its senior vice president for over three years. Crichlow is a lifelong New Yorker who started his career with the MTA in 1997 as an assistant signal maintainer at the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), rising through the ranks at the LIRR to become train movement supervisor overseeing operations at Penn Station Central Control. In 2007 he transferred to MTA Headquarters to become special assistant for operations for then- MTA Executive Director Elliot G. “Lee” Sander. 

As the senior vice president for the department of subways, he led efforts for across-the-board service improvements and steered the department out of the pandemic years with sustained ridership growth. This included working intimately on the implementation of communications-based train control on the line and its current expansion in the system, making vast upgrades to the customer environment and rebuilding its 29,000-person workforce post pandemic. 

Mulligan 

Mulligan has been appointed the MTA’s first chief of rolling stock program, reporting to MTA Chief Administrative Officer Lisette Camilo after serving as the deputy chief development officer at MTA Construction & Development (C&D). In this role Mulligan will ensure the MTA reliably engages its business partners as it looks to execute the largest rolling stock replacement in the history of the MTA, a major priority of the 2025 – 2029 Capital Plan which calls for 2,000 new railcars. 

By bringing a career-long dedication to fiscal responsibility to this role, Mulligan will work to bolster the MTA’s position to improve pricing, strengthen purchasing power and support a competitive marketplace. In his previous position, he ran the development department and oversaw C&D’s budget and program management needs. 

Ibric  

Ibric has been appointed chief people officer after serving in the role in an acting capacity for six months, bringing over 16 years of experience in the public sector. In this position she will oversee and execute the authority’s people management strategy and report directly to Camilo. Ibric joined the MTA in January 2022 as its deputy chief administrative officer following time at the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services as deputy commissioner and chief diversity officer. 

Ibric has previously worked at the mayor's office of contract services as deputy director for research and IT where she was responsible for maintaining and developing procurement data analytics and reporting, along with planning and developing mayoral procurement initiatives.