NEW YORK—The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on July 29 that Melanie Hartzog, Janette Sadik-Khan and Matthew Rand were named as new MTA Board members, while James O’Donnell and Blanca López were reappointed to the board.

“Over the last few years, the MTA Board has stepped up to make the tough decisions to upgrade service and balance the books,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “Our newest members have the public service bona fides and policy chops to further advance these efforts, and I look forward to working with them.”

The MTA is governed by a board comprised of 17 voting members. Members are nominated by the governor, with four recommended by the mayor of New York City and one each by the county executives of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland and Putnam counties. The board also includes non voting representatives of organized labor and users of MTA transit and commuter facilities.

The new member from the Hudson Valley region is Rand, while López and O’Donnell are returning to serve on the MTA Board.

Rand is president of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services’ New York Region and president of Howard Hanna Rand Realty, overseeing residential real estate operations across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. He leads one of the region’s largest real estate organizations, with a focus on housing, economic development, technology and building stronger communities.

A lifelong Rockland County resident, Rand serves on the boards of The Realty Alliance, the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation, Pattern for Progress and the Rockland Business Association. He also serves on New York State’s Mid Hudson Regional Economic Development Council, where he has helped advance initiatives to strengthen the region’s economy and communities.

Earlier this year, Westchester County representative Blanca López was reappointed by the governor and reconfirmed by the New York State Senate to the MTA Board. López is an experienced professional with more than two decades of experience in community development, planning and housing. She currently serves as Commissioner of Planning for Westchester County.

She previously served as Assistant Director of Operations for Westchester County. In that role, she oversaw all county housing related programs, the implementation of policies recommended by the Police Reform Task Force across county departments, and Raise the Age implementation in partnership with the Probation Department. López joined the Latimer administration in 2018, serving as advisor on Fair and Affordable Housing and liaison to county departments including Corrections, Emergency Services, the Human Rights Commission and the Office for People with Disabilities.

Her previous experience includes serving as Program Director for Human Development Services of Westchester, a New York State funded program that preserves affordable housing, and as Legislative and Community Affairs Representative for then U.S. Rep. Nita M. Lowey, assisting constituents with housing, immigration and veterans affairs while developing outreach strategies for Spanish speaking and immigrant communities throughout Lowey’s congressional district.

O’Donnell was reappointed to the MTA Board, where he will continue contributing his extensive public service experience. He has served as an Orange County legislator since being elected in a 2016 special election and was re elected in 2017 and 2021. He joined Orange County government in 2004 as Director of Operations and was appointed Deputy County Executive in 2005, serving in that role until 2013. During his tenure, he oversaw economic development and served as Executive Director of the Foreign Trade Zone and the Orange County Industrial Development Agency.

O’Donnell began his career as a New York State Trooper, rising through leadership positions including Captain of the Violent Felony Warrant Squad, Major overseeing State Police operations in New York City and Troop Commander of Troop F. He was later appointed Lieutenant Colonel in charge of statewide Uniform Trooper patrols. In 1999, he became Chief of the MTA Police Department, where he reorganized the former Long Island Rail Road and Metro North Railroad police forces into the new MTA Police Department and strengthened counterterrorism preparedness, which proved critical during and after the Sept. 11 attacks. O’Donnell also oversaw the MTA’s evacuation of New York City and the agency’s police response in the months following the attacks.

Hartzog is president and CEO of The New York Foundling, one of the nation’s largest and oldest nonprofit organizations. The Foundling serves more than 30,000 people annually in the New York metropolitan area and Puerto Rico through more than 40 programs spanning child welfare, developmental disabilities, education, juvenile justice, health and behavioral health.

Previously, Hartzog served as New York City Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, where she oversaw the nation’s largest municipal budget. She also served as Family Services Coordinator for the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, Deputy Commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services, and led a social services unit within the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget.

Sadik-Khan previously served as New York City Transportation Commissioner from 2007 to 2013 under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, where she led transformative initiatives to improve street safety and expand pedestrian space. During her tenure, New York City installed nearly 400 miles of bike lanes, created more than 60 public plazas, including the pedestrian plaza at Times Square, and launched North America’s largest bike share program, Citi Bike, along with seven Select Bus Service routes.

Sadik-Khan currently serves as a principal at Bloomberg Associates and as chairperson of the National Association of City Transportation Officials and the Global Designing Cities Initiative, helping implement people focused street design standards that have been adopted in more than 150 cities across the United States and around the world.