New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Dec. 9 nominated Kathryn Garcia as Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANY/NJ), succeeding Rick Cotton, whose retirement was announced late last month.
Garcia, a lifelong New Yorker who has been Director of State Operations since 2022, will take on her new role in January 2026. She has also served as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Sanitation, Chief Operating Officer at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, and interim Chair and CEO of the NYC Housing Authority. Additionally, on March 22, 2020, she was named “‘food czar’ for New York’s emergency food program during the COVID-19 emergency response, tasked with ensuring that every New Yorker in need had access to food and securing the city’s food supply,” according to Columbia University’s Center for Buildings, Infrastructure and Public Space, where Garcia has served on the Board of Advisors. She was a candidate for New York City Mayor in 2021.
Garcia received a bachelor’s degree in economics and history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Operations Commissioner Jackie Bray will become the new Director of State Operations.
“I have long believed that my greatest talent is finding talent, and I am fortunate to have two of New York’s most talented public servants as my Director of State Operations,” Gov. Hochul said. “I am incredibly grateful to have had Kathryn Garcia serve in that role for more than four years, during which time she helped us transform New York for the better. From the Gateway Tunnel to Micron, the Interborough Express to our Nuclear Moonshot, Kathryn helped us launch and advance generational infrastructure projects and rebuild our economy following the pandemic with an eye toward the future. I am thankful she will continue serving the people of New York as Executive Director of the Port Authority, where she will help us continue to advance a regional economy that keeps us the global leader in job creation and growth.”
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the first female Governor as her Director of State Operations and Infrastructure,” Kathryn Garcia said. “I’m enormously proud of what we have accomplished over the last four years: launching the largest infrastructure project in modern history with the Gateway Development Commission; reducing traffic and generating critical funding for the MTA through congestion pricing; and advancing the 1-81 Viaduct project to reunite Syracuse’s Southside. I know Jackie Bray will bring expert leadership to the team as she steps into the Director role, and I look forward to continuing to serve Gov. Hochul and New Yorkers as Executive Director of the Port Authority.”
“Gov. Hochul’s nomination of Kathryn Garcia as the next Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is a superb choice,” commented Rick Cotton, who was appointed to the role in 2017 by then New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and confirmed by the PANY/NJ Board of Commissioners. “I have worked closely with Kathryn for many years. She has deep knowledge of city and state government combined with extraordinary insight and judgment and a collaborative spirit. I could not imagine a government executive better suited to advance the Port Authority’s standards of world-class infrastructure and get things done.”
Separately, the PANY/NJ in November proposed a $45 billion 2026–2035 Capital Plan, which would provide $2.6 billion to PATH for service increases, including the return of daily operations on all four rapid transit lines; all new uptown tracks; and new fare gates and technology, including CCTV and artificial intelligence, to identify patterns of fare evasion and develop strategies to deter evasion and enforce fare payment.
