MassDOT Secretary Announces MBTA Leadership Team

Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Secretary Stephanie Pollack announced Thursday Brian Shortsleeve will serve as the Chief Administrator for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), working alongside the newly appointed Fiscal and Management Control Board.

Interim General Manager Frank DePaola will continue in his current role focusing solely on operations and Jeff Gonneville, a 14-year veteran of the MBTA will serve as the permanent Chief Operating Officersaid Pollack.

Under the MBTA reforms Governor Charlie Baker recently signed into law, the MassDOT Secretary was given the ability to name the MBTA’s General Manager.

Given the immense reforms underway at the MBTA, Secretary Pollack has divided the T’s leadership into two positions in accordance with the recommendations of the Governor’s MBTA Special Review Panel.

The Chief Administrator will focus on the fiscal health of the organization, enabling the General Manager to focus on improving service for customers.

“Brian is a proven leader with a successful track record fixing and running complex organizations large and small and his expertise is exactly what is needed to get the job done,” said Gov. Baker in a statement. “The taxpayers of Massachusetts deserve a transportation system they can rely on and together with the Control Board, our new leadership team at the MBTA can implement the reforms outlined by our panel of experts.”

“With the governance and leadership in place, I believe the MBTA is on track for a transformation designed to ensure that customers receive the safest and most reliable, innovative and customer-responsive transit possible,” said Pollack, in a press release. “The Fiscal and Management Control Board is moving quickly and with Brian’s intense focus on the financial health of the organization combined with Frank and Jeff’s experience with system operations, we are moving ahead to fix the T.”

The Fiscal and Management Control Board met Thursday for the second time since the Governor signed it into law and swore in its members, and is working toward the required 60-day report to the legislature as well as the immediate service improvements and track upgrades already underway at the MBTA.

The MBTA is also currently implementing the $83 million Winter Resiliency Plan which is making investments this summer and over the next five years in snow removal equipment, infrastructure upgrades and operations during harsh weather to improve service reliability.

About the MBTA Leadership Team:

Chief Administrator Brian Shortsleeve has nearly 20 years of leadership experience in the public and private sector managing change in complex organizations. He served in our country’s Armed Forces as a United States Marine Corps officer and in the business world as an adviser and investor in businesses which were undergoing periods of both rapid growth and operational turnaround. Serving as an officer for four years in the U.S. Marine Corps after college, Brian led teams of Marines who deployed to the Persian Gulf and Bosnia-Herzegovina. After serving as the political director for Mitt Romney’s successful 2002 campaign for Governor of Massachusetts, Shortsleeve returned to Bain & Company where he focused on working with the management team to develop and implement strategies to improve operational efficiency and increase revenue growth. As an investor at H.I.G. Capital and General Catalyst Partners, he has worked closely with management teams as they managed periods of both rapid-growth and operational turnaround by implementing strategic and operational efficiency plans, and more effectively allocating capital. Shortsleeve received an MBA from Harvard Business School and lives with his wife and three sons in Wellesley where he is a Commuter Rail rider.

Interim General Manager Frank DePaola has served in his current role since February, and brings over 30 years of design and construction experience from the public sector, including the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) where he is the Chief Operating Officer and formerly the Administrator for the Highway Division. DePaola joined MassDOT in 2009 as the Assistant General Manager for the MBTA’s Design and Construction Directorate. He previously served as Senior Project Manager for Infrastructure for Harvard University’s Allston Development Group and Director of Construction for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). DePaola is a licensed, registered Professional Engineer in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and holds a Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University and a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

CEO Jeffrey D. Gonneville has been with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) for nearly 15 years, dutifully working toward improving the agency, and as a result, rising through the ranks. A graduate of University of Massachusetts Amherst with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, onneville has been deeply rooted in public transportation for decades, responsible for administration, efficiency, contract management, and maintenance. Gonneville became the Acting Chief Operating Officer in May and most recently served as the Chief Mechanical Officer of the MBTA, responsible for the maintenance, oversight, long term strategic planning and all other related tasks for maintaining a state of good repair for the Authority’s 210 light rail, 432 heavy rail, 1,000 bus, and 1,100 non-revenue fleet.