Noah S. Berger has been named administrator for Haverhill, Mass.’s Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority (MVRTA).

Berger succeeds long-time Administrator Joe Costanzo, who retired last month after 42 years at the helm. Berger will be only the third administrator in the history of the MVRTA, which was first established in 1974. The MVRTA serves the northeast corner of Massachusetts with over one million miles of scheduled bus routes, as well as demand-response van transportation for seniors and people with disabilities. 

Berger comes to MVRTA with almost 30 years of experience in the transit industry, most recently serving as deputy administrator for the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, based in Hyannis, where he garnered a reputation for creative planning, management, and funding of innovative transit projects and programs. He spent 15 years at the Federal Transit Administration, primarily as director, planning and program development, in the Region 1 Office in Cambridge, Mass., where he steered the $1.1 billion annual regional transit grant program from concept through award, and has held leadership positions with CTTransit, the Greater Hartford Transit District, the Boston Foundation, the MBTA Advisory Board, Cambridge Systematics, and Vermont’s Enterprise Community Transportation Project.