Mary Jane O'Meara interim CEO of Mass Pike

Mary Jane O'Meara, a veteran toll industry figure is interim CEO of the Massachusetts Turnpike. For years O'Meara has managed the Tobin Bridge, the only toll operation of Massport - the state port authority - and just a mile or so away from the Turnpike's cross harbor tunnels. She takes over from John Cogliano, the Mitt Romney appointee in charge since Matt Amorello was forced out last fall.

Bernard Cohen, secretary of transportation under the new governor Deval Patrick became chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Commission on Sunday. He said of the Turnpike: "Political battles and leadership turnover in the last administration squandered a lot time and energy. All of these woes have taken a toll on this agency and left it with a damaged reputation, unclear mission and an uncertain future....It is extremely important that in a system where transportation infrastructure needs to be seamless and interconnected, the agencies that are responsible for those systems also need to be functioning in that kind of way."

Cohen noted that the Turnpike CEO is limited to $140k/year under a 2004 law. He plans to push for raising the salary cap to $200k in the search for a permanent CEO.

O'Meara has been prominent in the affairs of the toll industry trade association, IBTTA, and was its president a couple of years back.

TOLLROADSnews 2007-06-27