In his final NJ Transit board meeting as CEO on Wednesday, Kevon Corbett stuck to the prepared text.
“When we came in we had an almost impossible to meet PTC deadline that obviously we accomplished,” he read from notes prepared as part of his final CEO report to the agency’s board. “We hired hundreds of local engineers to stabilize service, keeping our state moving during the Covid crisis. We really saw the best of public service in our organization, maintaining full service and launching our first ever 10 years strategic plan, a first ever $17 billion capital improvement plan in 2020, during the pandemic when other transit services were scaling back or suspending their service levels.”
Board members and even the agency’s usual critics, praised Corbett, whose resignation is official next month, for just sticking in the job for seven years.
“Seven years in probably the most difficult job in our government, maybe with the exception of mine, inherited a mess, and notwithstanding the summer we just went through, — wherein most of the problem was aging Amtrak infrastructure — he’s done a helluva job under extremely tough circumstances,” said Gov. Phil Murphy.
Kris Kolluri, a former commissioner with the state’s transportation department, is set to become CEO next month. He recently stepped away from the role of CEO at the Gateway Development Commission.
