BOSTON — Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority General Manager and CEO Phillip Eng has been named as interim transportation secretary for the state of Massachusetts, Gov. Maura Healey announced today (Oct. 16, 2025). He will also continue in his MBTA role.
Eng will fill the vacancy created by the decision of Monica Tibbits-Nutt to step down as transportation secretary and CEO of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, effective today. Tibbits-Nutt, who plans to return to private industry, will serve as an advisor through the rest of the year. Healey has also promoted Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver to undersecretary of transportation; he will also continue in his current position.
“As General Manager of the MBTA, Phil Eng has overseen a transformative period for public transportation in our state and delivered the results that the people of Massachusetts have needed for a long time when it comes to safety and reliability,” Healey said in a press release. “He is a trusted leader with decades of transportation experience, and I know that he is the right person to lead MassDOT during this period.”
Said Eng, “I look forward to taking on this interim role with MassDOT and working even more closely with Undersecretary Gulliver and their great team to deliver the world-class transportation system that the people of Massachusetts and our visitors deserve.”
Healey appointed Eng to the MBTA job in March 2023, shortly after he concluded five years at New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, four of them as president of the Long Island Rail Road. Between those positions, he worked as a consultant for the LiRo Group, a New York construction and engineering company.
The Boston Globe reports that Eng told a press conference that there had been no discussion of taking the transportation secretary job on a permanent basis, but that he is “open to holding it as long as its needed.” He said he intended to remain fully involved with the MBTA: “I know that doesn’t sound feasible, but it is because they now what they’re doing, [and] MassDOT people know what they’re doing.”
