Governor Cuomo and Governor Christie
thanked Executive Director Foye and Chairman Degnan for their leadership during
their service at the Authority. At the direction of Governor Cuomo and Governor
Christie, one of the first priorities for Mr. O'Toole and Mr. Cotton will
be to resume the search for a new Port Authority CEO. Mr. O'Toole and Mr.
Cotton will assume their new positions following the next meeting of the Board
of Commissioners.
"Pat Foye has done an exceptional
job serving the Port Authority with bold leadership and a tireless commitment
to bettering the transportation infrastructure of New York and New Jersey, and
I wish him the very best," Governor
Cuomo said. "With major infrastructure projects across the region
underway, including the new JFK and LaGuardia Airports, the Port Authority has
unprecedented momentum, and Rick Cotton has the experience and tenacity to
continue moving these transformative projects ahead and lead the organization
into the future. I thank Rick for his exceptional work in my office and look
forward to continuing to work closely with him in this new position."
"John Degnan's leadership at the
Port Authority will be remembered as a period when transparency and public
access were greatly enhanced, and the agency recommitted itself to a core
mission of transportation infrastructure. In thanking him for his extraordinary
service, I also want to recognize his many years of dedication to
public service in New Jersey over the past four decades and to wish him well in
his next pursuit," Governor
Christie said. "I can think of no one better than Kevin O'Toole to
assume the Port Authority chairmanship at this point, with New Jersey and New
York moving forward with the most important project in generations to
impact commuters and the economy in the Northeast Corridor, the Gateway
Program. Kevin is the right person at the right time."
Mr. O'Toole is the Managing Partner of
O'Toole Scrivo Fernandez Weiner Van Lieu, LLC and recently concluded a long and
distinguished career in the New Jersey Legislature. During his time in
the Legislature, Mr. O'Toole sponsored many significant pieces of legislation
and was instrumental in the passage of landmark Transportation Trust Fund
legislation that provided long-term sustainability for New Jersey's
transportation infrastructure. As an accomplished attorney, Mr. O'Toole
heads a growing, mid-sized firm of over 40 attorneys and has a varied
litigation practice in which he is routinely called upon by Fortune 500
companies to obtain cost-effective, early resolution of complex matters.
Mr. O'Toole received a B.A. and J.D. from Seton Hall University.
Since January 2015, Mr. Cotton has
served as Governor Cuomo's Special Counsel for Interagency Initiatives,
overseeing most of the Governor's major downstate infrastructure priorities
including LaGuardia and JFK Airports, the Penn-Farley Complex, the new Tappan
Zee Bridge and the expansion of the Javits Center. Mr. Cotton joined the
administration following 25 years at NBC Universal, where he held a number of
positions beginning in 1989, including 20 years as EVP and General Counsel and
four years in London as President and Managing Director of CNBC Europe. He also
served as Executive Secretary to the Department at the U.S. Department of
Health, Education and Welfare under Secretary Joseph A. Califano, Jr. and
Special Assistant for Renewable Energy to Deputy Secretary of Energy John Sawhill
at the U.S. Department of Energy. Mr. Cotton received an A.B. from Harvard
College and a J.D. from Yale Law School, and served as a law clerk to Justice
William J. Brennan, Jr. on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Source: Press Office, Governor Andrew M.
Cuomo
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