Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the appointment of Joseph J. Lhota to serve as the chairman of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). In this role, Lhota will direct the executive management team to address the current crisis facing the MTA. As chairman, Lhota will receive a salary of $1 per year, and delegate CEO duties to a permanent Executive Officer, a position for which the search is ongoing.

Lhota previously served as the chairman of the board and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Prior to that, Lhota served as the New York City Deputy Mayor for Operations where he oversaw day-to-day management of the City and supervised City agencies.

Lhota also served as Budget Director, where he managed the City's $36 billion operating budget and $45 billion capital budget, cut costs, led agency reorganizations and consolidations, and implemented performance-based strategic planning. Before that, Lhota was the Commissioner of Finance for New York City.

"Joe Lhota is a tested and experienced leader with the proven track record needed to address the enormous challenges facing the nation’s largest mass transportation system," Governor Cuomo said. "In the wake of the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, Joe stepped up and delivered for New Yorkers – ensuring our region’s subways, buses and commuter rails were up and running as quickly as possible."

"This is an incredibly challenging time for the MTA and we will immediately and aggressively tackle the problems the system is facing after decades of disinvestment," said Joseph Lhota.

Lhota will continue to serve as sr. VP, Vice Dean and Chief of Staff at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Lhota graduated from Georgetown University, where he earned a bachelor of science in business administration and received his master of business administration from the Harvard Business School.