MASSPORT: About Massport: Who We Are: Board Members

Board Member - Bernard Cohen

As Secretary of Transportation and Public Works, Bernard Cohen directs the Executive Office of Transportation (EOT). The Secretary has direct oversight of the Massachusetts Highway Department, the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission, and serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the MBTA and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

Immediately prior to being appointed Secretary, Cohen oversaw the Federal Transit Administration's Lower Manhattan Recovery Office (LMRO) in New York City. In this capacity, he led a $4.55 billion program to rebuild and restore transportation facilities and infrastructure in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The program's responsibilities included the construction of the permanent PATH terminal and the rebuilding of the Fulton Street Transit Center and the South Ferry Terminal Station.

Secretary Cohen has more than twenty years of experience in the field of public transportation. He has held senior management positions at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Before being appointed to lead the LMRO, he served as Deputy Managing Director of the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co., overseeing service in the Boston area.

Secretary Cohen graduated from Union College in New York. He received a Master's Degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and has worked as a freelance reporter for both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. Secretary Cohen has two daughters, Celia and Abigail.

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