BOSTON (AP) — The Boston area’s troubled public transit system has hired a business executive with experience in corporate turnarounds to be its next leader.
Luis Manuel Ramirez, who has no prior public transit experience, was named Tuesday as the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s general manager/chief executive.
The 50-year-old Ramirez, who most recently ran his own strategic and turnaround business consulting firm, but who also worked at General Electric for 12 years, succeeds Interim GM Steve Poftak on Sept. 12.
The MBTA has been under intense scrutiny since operations were crippled during the winter of 2015. The agency is deep in debt, has an underfunded pension system, was criticized for poor security at its money-counting facility and faces union resistance to privatization efforts.
Ramirez will be paid $320,000 a year under a three-year contract.
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