John Nathan "Janno" Lieber (born September 19, 1961) is the head of the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...
(MTA) in New York. He was appointed acting chair and CEO in July 2021 and confirmed permanently in January 2022.
Early life and career
Lieber was born on September 19, 1961, to Charles and
Mimi Levin Lieber
Mimi Levin Lieber (March 22, 1928 – October 16, 2021), born Miriam Leah Levin, was a sociologist who developed new techniques in consumer attitude research. As a member of the New York State Board of Regents, she became a significant figure in ...
. Charles was a president of the
Hebrew Publishing Company and Mimi was a member of the
New York State Board of Regents
The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within New York State, presiding over the University of the State of New York and the New York State Educatio ...
. Through his mother he is related to the prominent
Levin political and legal family of
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
; his maternal grandfather was
Theodore Levin
Theodore Levin (February 18, 1897 – December 31, 1970) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Education and career
Levin was born on February 18, 1897, in Chicago, Illinoi ...
, former Chief Judge of the
, and his uncle
Charles Levin was a Justice of the
Michigan Supreme Court
The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the s ...
, while his distant cousins
Carl Carl may refer to:
*Carl, Georgia, city in USA
*Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
*Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name
*Carl², a TV series
* "Carl", an episode of tel ...
,
Sander
A sander is a power tool used to smooth surfaces by abrasion with sandpaper. Sanders have a means to attach the sandpaper and a mechanism to move it rapidly contained within a housing with means to handhold it or fix it to a workbench. Woodw ...
, and
Andy Levin have all represented Michigan in the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
.
In the 1980s, Lieber was a journalist at ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
''.
He worked as a transportation policy advisor during New York City Mayor
Ed Koch
Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989.
Koch was a lifelong Democrat who ...
's administration.
Later Lieber served as an acting assistant secretary in the
U.S. Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...
during the
Clinton administration
Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican in ...
.
In 2003, he joined
Silverstein Properties
Silverstein Properties Inc. is an American family-held, full-service real estate development, investment and management firm based in New York City. Founded in 1957 by Chairman Larry Silverstein, the company specializes in developing, acquiri ...
, where he would later become the president of their World Trade Center Properties division, working on the rebuilding after the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
.
In a 2015 interview with ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', he described himself as "a jack-of-all-trades," saying, "I do everything from financing to the legal to the design and construction to the P.R. and government relations."
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
In 2017, then-governor
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( , ; born December 6, 1957) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 until his resignation in 2021. A member of the Democratic Party and son of former governor Mario Cuomo, ...
appointed Lieber to be the MTA's chief development officer.
In this role of chief development officer, Lieber oversaw a range of capital initiatives including the long-delayed completion of the extension of the
Second Avenue Subway
The Second Avenue Subway (internally referred to as the IND Second Avenue Line by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, MTA and abbreviated to SAS) is a New York City Subway line that runs under Second Avenue (Manhattan), Second Avenue o ...
line on the East Side of Manhattan.
In July 2021, Cuomo nominated Lieber to serve as acting chair and CEO, following the retirement of
Pat Foye.
In November 2021, governor
Kathy Hochul
Kathleen Hochul ( ; ; born August 27, 1958) is an American politician and lawyer who has served since 2021 as the 57th governor of New York. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she is New York's List of female ...
said she wanted to nominate him for those roles permanently.
He was formally nominated by Hochul and subsequently confirmed by the
New York State Senate
The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...
in January 2022.
On January 25, 2023, Lieber rode with Hochul on the first train to the new
Grand Central Madison
Grand Central Madison – also known colloquially as the Madison Concourse or simply Grand Central – is a commuter rail terminal for the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) in the Midtown East neighborhood of Manhattan, in New York City. It sits be ...
station, part of the
East Side Access
East Side Access (ESA) is a public works project in New York City that extended the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) two miles from its Main Line (Long Island Rail Road), Main Line in Queens to the new Grand Central Madison station under Grand Cent ...
project.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lieber, Janno
Executives of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Collegiate School (New York) alumni
Living people
American people of Jewish descent
Harvard College alumni
New York University School of Law alumni
1961 births