Jay H. Walder
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
 |
Recommended by: Governor |
Jay H. Walder was nominated by Governor David A. Paterson on July 14, 2009 and was confirmed by the New York State Senate on September 10, 2009 as chairman and chief executive officer of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York, the largest transit agency in the United States.
Chairman Walder has extensive experience in the public transportation business. He began his career in 1983 where he worked for the MTA, heading its capital program budget office and subsequently becoming chief of staff and ultimately executive director and chief financial officer. In those positions he played important roles in the creation of the MTA's first Capital Program and the implementation of the MetroCard.
After leaving the MTA in 1995, he taught public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He subsequently joined Transport for London (TfL), where he served as the managing director for finance and development until 2006. TfL, created in 2000, is the integrated body responsible for the London's transport services. Walder is credited with the introduction of the system's extremely successful and popular "Oyster card" and with leading the development of the transportation plans for London's successful bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
From 2007 until rejoining the MTA, Mr. Walder was a partner at McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm advising leading companies on issues of strategy, organization, technology, and operations.
Walder grew up in the Rockways in Queens, NY, where he attended Beach Channel High School. He attended Harpur College at the State University of New York at Binghamton, and received a Master's in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.