MBTA's Top Leadership Position To Change Hands

No transit experience; was a GE executive. The story from the Boston Globe.

No Train/Transit Experience.......Amazing !

I have to wonder what the Job Posting Description had listed for mandatory experience ?

"Looking for Butcher, Baker, or Candle Stick Maker to run a Transit System in Boston."

Please apply at MBTA.....

Diverging Route wrote:No transit experience; was a GE executive. The story from the Boston Globe.

Maybe he will increase and or improve transit service in the Seaport District, got to take care of his former employer!

But other than that a reducer.

JoeD

The people on the MBTA Human Resource Board, who approved his hiring, should be Fired !!

Now there is a Cost Savings initiative !

Not at all. I'm sure there is a huge severance package if they did that.

What we know about the new GM:

• He's a consultant in Texas specializing in business turnarounds.
• But he wasn't hired to do a turn-around; The MBTA is already on the right path!
• Has a Hispanic name, so helps with "diversity"
• Needs a new suit.
• Is "a successful and seasoned executive with a proven track record at leading complex organizations through transformation and change.” Sec. Pollack is very happy with her pick. Gov. Baker agrees with whatever she says.
• He needs to negotiate a new CR contract...since he has no transit or RR experience, they will have to hire a consulting company.
• He is getting paid a salary that's supposed to attract qualified candidates.
• His job is to help create a long-term road map and plan to fully transform the T into a world-class transportation system for the Boston area and statewide (southcoast, berkshires, greenfield)
• Was a VP at GE and a CEO of an industrial company, so that is good.
• has experience negotiating with union workers .

So he is here to oversee outsourcing and maybe the pension problem. State government overly values consultants over technical knowledge or home-grown skills. Might be a good time for Jeff Gonneville to ask for a substantial pay raise.

craven wrote:The people on the MBTA Human Resource Board, who approved his hiring, should be Fired !!

Now there is a Cost Savings initiative !

The GM position choice is usually above the HR paygrade.

JoeD

Could we maybe give the gentleman a chance to show what he can do?

Absolutely! But there is something they are not telling us about why they hired this person and what his "marching orders" are. As I said he has CEO and VP level experience, which is good. Perhaps the Globe article just doesn't have the details I want, lol.

Short article from Maslive http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... neral.html

"Going forward, we need financial discipline, we need operational excellence, and we also need strategy," Ramirez said in his own statement. "But in everything we do, the overriding objective will be to put the customer first."

So, in his own words are the criteria we should measure him by. I'd like to see this quantified and know more about this strategy thingy.

We have a leader of one of the largest tax evaders in the United States now in charge of a tax revenue recipient. I'll get the popcorn started...

Ruh-roh...this is not a good look: http://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2017/08 ... turnaround" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ramirez left the company on March 20, 2015. Less than two months later, the firm had to notify the SEC in writing that the company's financial statements for 2014 "should not be relied upon because of accounting errors" and that they were retaining outside advisers to see if reporting for other years may have been affected.

That kicked off a detailed internal review. In March 2017, the company refiled its accounting information with the SEC. The new reports contain significant differences in key measures of the company's financial health. For example, in its original filing, Global Power Equipment Group reported a net income of $11 million for 2014, the final complete business year Ramirez served as CEO. The company's restated SEC filings show that in 2014, it actually had a net loss of $47 million. Global Power Equipment Group originally overstated its 2014 net income by 524 percent.

I see this ending in disaster.

At the system GM level there is rational that direct experience isn't as necessary as a broad level of executive leadership. He'll be managing the managers and interacting with the public/government, not managing daily operations. Compare this to our current president.

/The information about corrected GE financial reports is troubling. Hope that the MBTA knew that before the decision.
//I bet that the Boston press will give Mr. Ramirez more support than they give our president.
///I am confident that he will be better for the MBTA than the spouse of a former GM.

Lincoln78 wrote:/The information about corrected GE financial reports is troubling. Hope that the MBTA knew that before the decision.
//I bet that the Boston press will give Mr. Ramirez more support than they give our president.

No, not GE, the restated financial were at a company he was CEO of after GE.

Lincoln78 wrote:///I am confident that he will be better for the MBTA than the spouse of a former GM.

What does this mean?