Before taking over as Healey’s transportation secretary in January , Fiandaca worked as an assistant city manager overseeing mobility for the city of Austin, Texas. Before that, she was the transportation commissioner for the city of Boston under former mayor Martin J. Walsh. Earlier, she was director of the city’s Office of the Parking Clerk.
Fiandaca’s departure is set to be the first of a cabinet member in Healey’s administration. It comes just seven months after Fiandaca started the job overseeing a sprawling transportation bureaucracy that includes the state’s highway and transit systems, including the MBTA, and the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Gina Fiandaca is stepping down effective Sept. 11, according to a Monday announcement from the administration of Governor Maura Healey.
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When then-governor elect Healey announced Fiandaca’s appointment, she also named Monica Tibbits-Nutt, former member of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation board of directors and MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board, as undersecretary. Tibbits-Nutt will become acting secretary of transportation, the announcement said.
Fiandaca will remain in an advisory role through the end of the year, according to Healey’s office.
“Lieutenant Governor Driscoll and I are grateful for Gina’s leadership at the Department of Transportation,” Healey said in a statement. “She came to our administration with over four decades of experience in transportation and a proven track record of getting things done. She hit the ground running and has delivered on many of our key transportation priorities. We are confident that the Department of Transportation will be in good hands and well-positioned to continue this important work with Monica Tibbits-Nutt as Acting Secretary, as she has a deep knowledge of our transportation system and a commitment to public engagement and equity. We thank Gina for all her work on behalf of the Healey-Driscoll Administration, for her willingness to be available to continue to assist us through the end of the year, and we wish her well in all of her future endeavors.”
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Fiandaca’s short-lived tenure as the state’s top transportation official was marked by successes and what critics called missteps.
The Sumner Tunnel closure this summer, requiring coordination between MassDOT, the city of Boston, and Massport, is seen as having been as painless as possible, with travel delays far less severe than anticipated.
But already bad conditions for riders of the MBTA have continued to deteriorate under Fiandaca’s leadership, with a large uptick in the percentage of subway requiring speed restrictions because of faulty tracks and a number of serious safety incidents, including crumbling station ceilings that injured at least one rider.
Also under Fiandaca, in May, MBTA and state officials entered into a $900,000 no-bid consulting contract with Teneo Strategy LLC, under which Bill Bratton, the former Boston police commissioner and Fiandaca’s ex-brother-in-law, was to advise Fiandaca and the MBTA as the agency worked to respond to a host of federal safety directives. The move — Bratton told the Globe that Fiandaca first approached him — came less than a year after state investigators criticized the T for entering into no-bid contracts.
In a statement, Fiandaca celebrated her tenure.
“Together, we have hired new leadership at the MBTA, implemented the Work and Family Mobility Act, reached approximately the half-way point with the Sumner Tunnel Restoration Project and helped drivers ‘ditch the drive’, and led efforts to obtain more than 2 billion dollars in federal funding,” she said. “In all of these areas and many others, the Governor’s leadership was the driving force of our success. I know I am leaving the department in capable hands with Monica Tibbits-Nutt as Acting Secretary and with an Administration dedicated to addressing our transportation challenges by putting people first and a workforce ready to carry on this work. I wish the Healey-Driscoll Administration continued success.”
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In a note to MassDOT employees Monday obtained by the Globe, Fiandaca touted these accomplishments.
“While I have enjoyed the challenges and responsibilities at MassDOT and the MBTA since January, I have come to a decision to leave my position on September 11, which will allow for a smooth transition,” Fiandaca wrote.
Transit advocates say while the departure comes at a crucial time, the administration has already secured an MBTA general manager and a safety chief who have begun doing crucial work on the T. Having Tibbits-Nutt step into the role will make the transition effectively seamless, said Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance, a public transportation advocacy group
“We couldn’t be in a better position,” Thompson said.
Thompson added that in searching for a new secretary, the Healey administration should look to Tibbits-Nutt or another expert “who wants to stick with this for the long haul” and has an interest “in the boring work.”
“This job is less about ribbon cuttings and more about operations,” Thompson said.
Samantha J. Gross of the Globe staff contributed to this report. This is a developing story and will be updated.
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Taylor Dolven can be reached at taylor.dolven@globe.com. Follow her @taydolven.