Ellen Schall, Dean of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, issued the following statement today on the recommended appointment of Elliot “Lee” Sander as Executive Director and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority:
“In 1996, Lee founded the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management at NYU Wagner. Under his distinguished, decade-long leadership, the Rudin Center has been one of the primary conveners of business, industry, public officials, and academics on questions involving transportation policy and management.
“The Rudin Center also has published numerous reports, which have been used to guide policy and effect change, both regionally and nationally, in such areas as transportation finance, freight, and land use.
“We are proud of Lee’s innovative activities at NYU Wagner, which educates the future leaders of public, nonprofit, and health institutions, as well as private organizations serving the public sector,” said Dean Schall. “We’re delighted by his appointment to the MTA, and we wish him all the best in this vital new role at the helm of New York’s regional transportation systems, a critical public service, for which he is especially well-suited.”
Allison C. de Cerreño, codirector of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy & Management, said, “Lee is a huge advocate of public transit. He has been an outstanding director, and leaves the Rudin Center in a very strong position. As codirector of the Rudin Center, I look forward to working with him in his new capacity.”