Former New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri will serve as president and CEO of New Jersey Transit to succeed Kevin Corbett, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.
Corbett announced today that he was stepping down after nearly seven years at the helm of the state’s long-suffering public transportation agency.
Kolluri, a former New Jersey Transit board chairman and hugely respected transportation expert, has agreed to run the agency until Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration turns off the lights in January 2026.
Most recently, Kolluri headed the Gateway Program Development Corporation, which completed the construction of a new tunnel under the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York in its first stage. He resigned in July after securing a $6.9 billion grant from the Federal Transit Administration for the $16 billion tunnel project.
Polly Trottenberg, the Deputy U.S. Secretary of Transportation and a former New York City transportation commissioner, is considered a possible candidate to run the Gateway program.
Kolluri served as transportation commissioner during the first three years of Gov. Jon Corzine’s administration. He was the president and CEO of the Camden Community Partnership and a former CEO of the Rowan University-Rutgers Camden Board of Governors.
In 2006 and 2007, Kolluri served brief stints as acting Governor of New Jersey while Corzine was out of state. The Commissioner of Transportation was fourth in the line of gubernatorial succession at the time; since the office of lieutenant governor was created, the transportation commissioner is now fifth. Kolluri, a former aide to Reps. Richard Gephardt and Rob Andrews, was the first Asian American to serve as acting governor.
RELATED ARTICLES
-
January 22, 2018 -
August 16, 2021 -
September 24, 2021