Photo courtesy of the MBTA
The MBTA now has its first chief communications officer, a former top aide to Sen. Elizabeth Warren and senior leader at the Boston Public Schools.
Gabrielle Mondestin “will be responsible for developing and transforming the agency’s communications strategy to provide a unified, transparent, effective, and authentic approach to messaging while prioritizing meaningful communications with MBTA’s ridership and the communities we serve,” MBTA spokesperson Lisa Battiston wrote in a press release Monday.
The move comes after repeated criticism of the agency’s closed-off style of communicating with the media under former Gov. Charlie Baker and former MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak, and sometimes-confusing communications with the public about service disruptions and other problems.
Mondestin comes to the T from the Boston Public Schools, where she’s currently chief communications officer and a previous deputy chief of staff. According to the T, she was also a senior communications aide to Warren’s 2020 United States presidential campaign, to Connecticut’s Treasury Department, to the New Hampshire Democratic Party, and Warren’s and former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s re-election campaigns. She also “spearheaded the development of a media relations program in North America” at software giant PTC Inc., the T said.
But it’s unclear how Mondestin will fit into the agency’s structure or what specific problems she will be tasked with fixing. Battiston confirmed she and MBTA Director of Communications Joe Pesaturo will stay in their roles.
A statement from new MBTA General Manager Phil Eng included in the T’s press release praised Mondestin for her being “widely respected in her field, with a proven track record of success,” and a statement from Mondestin herself said the agency “will work to identify areas of communication opportunity and growth, address areas of improvement, and develop initiatives to make public outreach more transparent, accessible, and reliable.”
But Battiston did not respond to a question about how Mondestin’s experience in communications roles will make up for her lack of experience in the highly technical field of public transit.
