Kathryn Garcia, a top aide to New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, is expected to be named the next executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that operates the three major airports that serve New York City, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Ms. Garcia, who nearly became mayor of New York in 2021 after serving as the city’s sanitation commissioner, would succeed Rick Cotton, who announced last month that he would retire in January after more than eight years in the job. The governors of New York and New Jersey jointly control the Port Authority, but New York’s governor appoints the executive director.
Ms. Garcia, 55, is the director of state operations for New York. Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, has chosen Jackie Bray, commissioner of the state’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services and a former top aide of Mayor Bill de Blasio, to succeed Ms. Garcia in that role, the people said.
Ms. Garcia’s appointment comes as the agency embarks on a $45 billion decade-long capital plan, which includes an $11 billion rebuild of the Midtown Bus Terminal, overhauling the airports and upgrades to some of the region’s bridges and tunnels.
Mr. Cotton, 81, oversaw several major infrastructure projects, including the rebuilding of LaGuardia Airport in Queens, a $19 billion overhaul of Kennedy International Airport and the planning for reconstruction of the bus terminal in Midtown Manhattan. He was appointed in 2017 by Ms. Hochul’s predecessor, Andrew M. Cuomo, after serving as an adviser to Mr. Cuomo on the development of Moynihan Train Hall and other projects.
Along with the airports, the Port Authority operates the seaports in the New York City region and owns several bridges and tunnels that connect New Jersey to New York City. About $2 billion of the agency’s annual revenue of nearly $7 billion came from tolls charged to cars and trucks at those crossings.
As executive director, Ms. Garcia, would receive an annual salary of about $325,000 and report to a 12-member board of directors. Each of the governors appoints six of the commissioners, and the board is chaired by a representative from New Jersey.
The current chairman of the Port Authority, Kevin O’Toole, was appointed in 2017 by Chris Christie, a Republican who was then the governor of New Jersey. Mr. Christie’s successor, Philip D. Murphy, a Democrat, took the unusual step of not replacing the chairman of the traditionally fractious agency.
For more than eight years, Mr. O’Toole and Mr. Cotton presented a united front that hid any conflicts and smoothed over matters that had caused dissension in the past. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic governor-elect of New Jersey, has not indicated whether she will leave Mr. O’Toole in place.
Replacing the dilapidated bus terminal in Midtown has long been a pet project of the agency’s New Jersey contingent, but Mr. Cuomo opposed it while pressing for improvements at LaGuardia and Kennedy. Now, the agency has begun work on its ambitious plan for rebuilding the terminal.
In 2021, Ms. Garcia, a Park Slope resident, came within about 7,000 votes of becoming the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City. Months after the primary loss, Ms. Hochul appointed Ms. Garcia the director of state operations with oversight over dozens of state agencies, including the Port Authority.
As Zohran Mamdani, the mayoral-elect, swept to victory, he was dogged by skepticism that his lack of experience would hurt the city. Ms. Garcia’s name came up in discussions over who might join his administration in top roles.
But running the Port Authority was a job that had interested her for some time.
Ms. Garcia “is my problem solver,” Ms. Hochul said last year. “No matter what it is, she knows an answer. She’s extraordinary.”
An experienced bureaucrat with an intimate understanding of how the wheels of government turn, Ms. Garcia is one of several trusted aides who briefs Ms. Hochul each morning on what is happening around the state. She previously served as the city’s sanitation commissioner under Mr. de Blasio and has been central to the state’s response to everything from huge snowstorms to political crises.
Ms. Garcia worked closely with Ms. Bray and others on crafting Ms. Hochul’s State of the State address, where the governor lays out her priorities for the budget. She has also managed the response to the cuts from the federal government and has been quick to criticize how these decisions will affect programs like food stamps.
Ms. Bray served as Ms. Hochul’s interim director of policy for 10 months until last May and is herself no stranger to responding to crises. Amid weeks of wildcat strikes from corrections officers this winter, Ms. Bray visited dozens of prisons across the state, negotiated with the corrections unions and coordinated the placement of the National Guard in the facilities to keep them safe.
Benjamin Oreskes is a reporter covering New York State politics and government for The Times.
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