Gov. Charlie Baker on Friday filled five of the six vacancies on the state transportation board, as lawmakers gear up to review his legislation overhauling the MBTA.
According to the Baker administration, the governor is expected to name a chair and fill the last remaining board vacancy before the board’s meeting next week.
The new members are Ruth Bonsignore, who recently worked as senior vice president and transportation practice area leader at the consulting firm VHB/Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.; Brian Lang, president of the hotel and food service union UNITE HERE Local 26; Steve Poftak, executive director of the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at Harvard Kennedy School; and Massachusetts Port Authority director of finance and treasury Betsy Taylor.
Baker also re-appointed Dominic Blue, vice president and assistant general counsel at the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.
Baker in April asked for and received the resignations of six of the seven board members, with the exception of his transportation chief, Stephanie Pollack. Blue was one of the six board members to resign.
The resignations were sought after a Baker-appointed panel issued a critical report on the MBTA and its operations.
The board oversees the MBTA, the highway and aeronautics divisions, and the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Baker is seeking to put the MBTA under a temporary fiscal control board, separate from the state transportation board, through legislation. The bill (H 3347) will be before the Joint Transportation Committee for a hearing on May 11 in Gardner Auditorium.
“The MBTA panel uncovered monumental challenges in the aftermath of this harsh winter, and I look forward to this new board expanding and working alongside our proposed Fiscal Management and Control Board as we strive to do better than the status quo with our transit systems which left riders stranded and tax dollars squandered,” Baker said in a statement Friday.
The legislation would also expand the state transportation board to 11 members, with the transportation secretary serving as chair.
The state transportation board is expected to meet on Wednesday at 1 p.m. in Boston.
