Preliminary Screening Committee Recommends Massport CEO Finalists
Final Decision to be made at June 27 Special Board Meeting
BOSTON – Members of the Preliminary Screening Committee of the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) Board of Directors today recommended two candidates to the Massport Board of Directors for consideration as the next Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The finalists are Lisa Wieland and Brian Golden. The Board of Directors will make a final decision on the next Massport CEO at a special board meeting planned for June 27.
Massport is governed by a seven-member Board, which is responsible for hiring a CEO and began the search process after Thomas Glynn announced his resignation in August 2018. After a Request for Proposals process, the firm of Isaacson, Miller was hired to assist with the search. In January 2019, the Board of Directors named a three-member screening committee to screen candidates: Board of Directors Chair Lew Evangelidis, chair of the Board’s Human Resources committee and Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack, and senior Massport Board member Sean O’Brien. The Board released a detailed position profile in January 2019 to formally launch the search process.
“The screening committee reviewed a diverse and talented pool of candidates from around the country,” said Massport Board Chairman Evangelidis. “More than one hundred candidates applied from a wide range of professional backgrounds in the private, public, government and non-profit sectors. We’re confident in recommending these finalists, who have demonstrated the leadership skills to build on Massport’s recent successes and collaborate with the authority’s talented senior staff and many engaged stakeholders to ensure that the authority continues to benefit the Commonwealth’s economy, transportation system and neighboring communities.”
Evangelides and screening committee co-chair Stephanie Pollack reported that the Isaacson, Miller team screened and interviewed 41 candidates in February and March. The screening committee interviewed 10 candidates in its first round of interviews, a diverse group that included five women and three people of color. After interviewing four of those candidates in a second round in June, the committee met this morning to vote to advance Lisa Wieland and Brian Golden to the Board as the CEO finalists.
John Pranckevicius has been serving as Acting CEO and will continue to serve in that role until a new CEO begins work, at which point Pranckevicius will return to his previous position as the Authority’s Chief Financial Officer. “On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Acting CEO John Pranckevicius for his continued skilled leadership during this time of transition,” said Committee Co-chair Stephanie Pollack.
“Being the Acting CEO for Massport has been a tremendous professional and personal experience for me,” said Pranckevicius. “I would like to thank both the Board for the opportunity and my fellow colleagues for their hard work and support. There are great things happening throughout the Authority and once the transition to the next CEO is completed, I am excited to jump back in as the Authority’s CFO and continue advancing Massport’s agenda.”
Massport was created by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1956 as a revenue-generating, public authority, capable of issuing its own revenue bonds—without the full faith and credit of the Commonwealth—and governed by a publicly appointed Board of Directors. Massport employs nearly 1,300 people and tenants at the various facilities employ more than 20,000.
Massport owns and operates Boston Logan International Airport, public terminals in the Port of Boston, Hanscom Field and Worcester Regional Airport. Massport’s premier transportation facilities generate more than $18 billion annually, and enhance and enable economic growth and vitality in New England.