Cuomo picks Connecticut pol for top Thruway Authority post
Bill Finch, a former two-term mayor of Connecticut”™s largest city, Bridgeport, has been chosen as the next executive director of the New York State Thruway Authority and Canal Corp.
Thruway Authority directors at their Monday board meeting appointed Finch as the Albany agency”™s acting executive director, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced. His nomination by Cuomo to the permanent top post must be confirmed by the state Senate.
Finch succeeds Maria Lehman, the Thruway Authority”™s interim executive director since January, when Robert Megna, the agency”™s  last executive director and Cuomo”™s former state budget director, joined the State University at Stony Brook as senior vice president for finance and administration. Lehman, an engineer, will remain at the Thruway Authority and Canal Corp. as chief operating officer overseeing maintenance and operations and engineering.
Raised in Connecticut”™s Fairfield County, Finch served nearly a decade on the Bridgeport City Council after graduating from the University of Connecticut and was that city”™s mayor from 2007 until 2015. Between elected stints in city government, he was a Connecticut state senator from 2000 until 2007 and served as senate majority whip, chairman of the environment committee and vice chairman of the transportation committee.
As Bridgeport mayor, Finch oversaw a budget of more than $500 million and more than 2,000 employees, according to Cuomo”™s office, and helped bring about the city”™s first population increase in decades. He launched a $750 million program to rebuild Bridgeport schools over the course of eight years and an environmental sustainability plan called “bGreen 2020.”
“Bill Finch is a dedicated public servant and his combination of state and local government experience will be an asset to the Thruway Authority,” Cuomo said.
Finch in a statement said he was “absolutely humbled to have been recommended for nomination by Gov. Cuomo to lead the New York State Thruway Authority and Canal Corp. as its executive director. Either for commerce, recreational travel, economic development or commuting, the Thruway is a critically important link between all the communities it touches across the state. I am thrilled to call Albany my new home and to hit the ground running with the dedicated team at the authority and corporation.”
As executive director, Finch inherits the Thruway Authority”™s approximately $4 billion project to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge. Cuomo said he will also have a vital role in the transfer of the Canal Corp. to the New York Power Authority at the end of this year.
