Elliot Sander
Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Administration
Elliot G. Sander was recommended to the position of Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) by Governor Eliot Spitzer on Dec. 15, 2006, and appointed by MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow on January 2, 2007. Mr. Sander oversees an organization that provides 2.4 billion subway, rail and bus trips each year to New Yorkers — the equivalent of about one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders. MTA Bridges and Tunnels carry more than 300 million vehicles a year — more than any bridge and tunnel authority in the nation.
Mr. Sander has over 25 years of public and private sector experience executing high profile transportation programs and projects in the New York metropolitan area. He is a former Senior Vice President at DMJM Harris, a global transportation infrastructure firm, and former Director and Founder of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School for Public Service at New York University.
In his public service career he has served in a variety of positions, including Commissioner of New York City Department Of Transportation, Commissioner on the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, Director of Transit for New York State Department Of Transportation, Deputy Commissioner for the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, where he oversaw the State's rent regulatory system, Assistant General Manager for MTA New York City Transit, where he ran the Manhattan Bus Division, and Executive Director of Operational Services at the New York City Department Of Transportation, where he oversaw the City's municipal parking system and borough traffic engineering. Mr. Sander's work in effecting organizational change and influencing state transportation policy has been covered extensively in the New York Times, Governing Magazine, and other written and electronic media.
Mr. Sander began his career as a budget analyst in the New York City Office of Management and Budget. He is also a graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
