Residents Comment on New Massport CEO

Last Thursday the Massport Board voted 5-2 to confirm Massport’s Port Director Lisa Wieland as the Port Authority’s new CEO.

Weiland replaces Thomas Glynn as CEO who stepped down in November. Massport’s CFO John Pranckevicius has filled in as CEO since the nationwide search began last year.

Massport board member John Nucci and Massport board chair Lee Evangelidis were the two that voted for Boston Planning and Development head Brian Golden for the post.

“On the one hand I’m disappointed because I think that Brian (Golden) would’ve brought fresh eyes to Massport and would have been a great consensus builder in the community,” said Nucci after the vote Thursday. “On the other hand, Lisa (Weiland) will work herself into the job just fine and I will support her thoroughly as we move ahead”.

In 2016 the Massport board voted to promote Wieland from Acting Port Director to Port Director.

Wieland has served as the Acting Port Director since March of 2015 and previously as Maritime’s Chief Administrative Officer. As Port Director, she oversees planning, development, marketing, operations, security, financial management, administration and maintenance of all of Massport’s non-aviation properties. Before joining the Maritime team, Wieland served in several roles at Massport, including the Director of HR Strategy & Employment and the Director of Corporate Planning and Analysis. Wieland has been with Massport since 2006.

Prior to her employment with Massport, Wieland worked as a consultant for Bain & Company serving health care and consumer products clients, and for CNN in various news and political assignments. She received her B.A. from UCLA in Political Science, and her M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

East Boston’s Logan Airport Impact Advisory Committee (AIR, Inc.) said they have discussed the pros and cons of confirming either Wieland or Golden for the CEO post.

In a statement after the vote AIR, Inc.

“This important hire will have long-lasting implications,” the statement reads. “It comes at a time when the rapid spread of Airport impacts is increasingly  deteriorating Boston’s health, economy, quality of life and our reputation.  We now have a label hung on our necks: the most congested city in America.  That puts us right up there with LA as a polluted city. And there is no single institution which is creating more health, environmental and traffic impacts, than Logan Airport.  The airport currently attracts more motorists than a Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics, and Patriots game combined every weekday.  And our city’s roadway infrastructure simply can’t handle it.”

“Wieland will need to listen to the people who are inundated with noise, pollution and being in the flight path,” said Revere Ward 1 Councilor Joanne McKenna, who lives in the flight path. “There have been 64,000 flights over Beachmont, the Point of Pines and Revere Beach in the last six months.”

McKenna said the airplanes greatly affect the quality of life.

“The planes are so low I can see what they’re  serving for snacks,” she added.

AIR, Inc. said as Massport’s new CEO Wieland needs to address and improve Massport’s planning model so those who now have disproportionate access to the Port Authority’s higher ups and help shape transportation get in line behind those who are impacted.

“Tom Glynn’s Massport grew the airport by 35 percent with impacts rising in equal measure,” continued the AIR Inc statement. “The air and noise pollution and traffic congestion driven by Logan are regional crises which themselves are driving asthma, COPD, stroke, heart disease, sleep interruption, and a host of painful outcomes for people on the ground -not just in neighborhoods such as East Boston but also in communities such as Milton nearly ten miles to the south, cities like Somerville to the west and across the entire region in a ten mile footprint. The next CEO will need to show that they can collaborate with community stakeholders to shape the transportation services that Massachusetts needs in a manner that we can live with. “ “The City of Revere looks forward to working with the new Director Lisa Wieland at Massport.” said Mayor Brian Arrigo, “Revere’s proximity to Logan Airport makes our City’s relationship all the more important. Ms. Wieland has proven herself throughout her tenure at Massport as a capable leader, and we look forward to her skills both in growing Massport and responding to concerns in communities that surround the airport,” Arrigo added.