Patrick Joseph Foye (born January 31, 1957) is an American lawyer who served as Chairman and CEO of the New York

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in th ...

(MTA). Prior to this role, he served as President of the MTA and Executive Director of the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...

Life and career

Foye graduated ''cum laude'' from

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

and attended

Fordham Law School Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test tak ...

, where he also served as associate editor for the

Fordham Law Review The ''Fordham Law Review'' is a student-run law journal associated with the Fordham University School of Law that covers a wide range of legal scholarship. Overview In 2017, the ''Fordham Law Review'' was the seventh-most cited law journal by o ...

. As a lawyer, he worked with

Skadden Arps Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1948, the firm consistently ranks among the top U.S. law firms by revenue. The company is known for its wo ...

. He was appointed by Governor

Eliot Spitzer Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10, 1959) is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008. Spitzer was b ...

to be chairman of New York's

Empire State Development Corporation Empire State Development (ESD) is the umbrella organization for New York's two principal economic development public-benefit corporations, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the New York Job Development Authority (JDA). T ...

and was a board member of the

. Foye was Deputy County Executive for Economic Development under Nassau County Executive

Ed Mangano Edward P. Mangano (born March 24, 1962) is an American politician from the state of New York. A Republican, he was the Nassau County Executive from January 2010 to December 2017, and a former legislator in Nassau County, New York. He was electe ...

. In October 2011, Governor

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...

appointed Foye to the post of Executive Director of the Port Authority. Cuomo ousted

Christopher O. Ward Christopher Owen Ward (born 1954) is an American civil servant who served as executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from May 22, 2008, until November 1, 2011, and as New York City Department of Environmental Protecti ...

who was a

David Paterson David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A ...

appointee. In November 2015, Foye announced would leave the position in March 2016. In March 2016, Foye announced he would delay his departure from the position until June 2016, as no replacement had yet been named. Foye later decided to remain in his post as executive director. On August 14, 2017, Foye was succeeded by Rick Cotton as Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In 2017, Foye became President of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). On April 1, 2019, Foye was appointed Chairman and CEO of the MTA by Governor Cuomo with approval from the New York State Senate. In late July 2021, Pat Foye stepped down at the behest of Governor Cuomo to be replaced by

Janno Lieber The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the New York City metropolitan area of the U.S. state of New York. The MTA is the largest public transit authority in the ...

. In September 2021, after

stepped down, Foye announced he would not become the CEO of Empire State Development, and allow

Kathy Hochul Kathleen Hochul ( ; née Courtney; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician serving as the 57th governor of New York since August 24, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, she is New York's first female governor, as well as the firs ...

to nominate her own choice.

Fort Lee lane closure scandal

Foye played a key role in ending an allegedly politically motivated traffic blockage that caused

gridlock Gridlock is a form of traffic congestion where "continuous queues of vehicles block an entire network of intersecting streets, bringing traffic in all directions to a complete standstill". The term originates from a situation possible in a grid ...

Fort Lee, New Jersey Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop the Palisades. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 40,191. As of the 2010 U.S. census, th ...

for four days in 2013. On Monday, September 9 two of three toll lanes leading to the

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the United St ...

from Fort Lee local streets were closed during morning

rush hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: on ...

. Local officials, emergency services, and the public were not notified of the lane closures, which Fort Lee declared a threat to public safety. The resulting back-ups on local streets finally ended on Friday morning, September 13 when Foye ordered the two lanes reopened immediately. He said that the "hasty and ill-informed decision" to close lanes could have endangered lives and violated federal and state laws.

References

Living people Port Authority of New York and New Jersey people American civil servants 1957 births Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom people {{US-poli-bio-stub