Crichlow is a 27-Year MTA Veteran and First African American to Hold Role
Tim Mulligan Appointed Chief of Rolling Stock Program
Mersida Ibric Appointed Chief People Officer
All Three Combined Bring 60+ Years of Dedicated Public Service to Authority
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Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chair and CEO Janno Lieber today named three officials to senior strategic roles, including Demetrius Crichlow as the 12th permanent president of New York City Transit. Crichlow takes the role after serving over four months in interim capacity and after a decades long career at the MTA. As president, Crichlow will oversee the 50,000-person workforce, including operations for New York City subways, buses, paratransit services, and the Staten Island Railway.
Tim Mulligan, currently Deputy Chief Development Officer at MTA Construction and Development, is appointed to a newly created role, Chief of Rolling Stock Program.
Mersida Ibric is named as the Chief People Officer after serving six months in an acting capacity.
Each brings key leadership experience that will forward the MTA’s mission of delivering reliable, safe and fast service and join the most diverse senior leadership team the MTA has ever assembled – of the Chair and CEO’s direct reports, 50% are women and 40% are people of color.
“We’re talking about commitment, pride in the system, its legacy and its importance to New York, which is why I am really proud to announce these appointments today,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “Today’s the day for celebrating and getting to work delivering for New Yorkers and I know we are going to be able to because you are the right people.”
Demetrius Crichlow, President, MTA New York City Transit
Demetrius Crichlow has been appointed the President of New York City Transit. Crichlow has served as the Interim President of New York City Transit since May, 2024, with a focus on safety and service. During his time as Interim President, Crichlow oversaw major service changes on the , ensuring customers had reliable alternative bus service while the was closed for a critical signal modernization project. He also oversaw enhanced service on the andlines. Crichlow’s efforts have led to recent ridership records with over 4.35 million riders on a single day.
“Demetrius Crichlow spends most of his waking hours thinking about what’s great about transit service and how it can be even better for millions of New Yorkers,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “And that’s exactly who need leading a 24/7 system that moves our lives. Demetrius has proven that he’s the right leader for this moment of challenges and opportunity.”
“I’ve been here for 27 going on 28 years and I’ve learned the system, the people. but I’m always learning more and we’re at a point where this organization is prepared to change with new cars, new infrastructure and it needs a steady hand to guide it, said NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow. “I’m honored to be taking on that role, it means the world to me and acknowledges a life long career of public service and now it’s time to get to work."
Previously, Crichlow led NYCT’s Department of Subways as its Senior Vice President for over three years, a period where the subway maintained the best on-time performance in at least a decade and recorded improving customer satisfaction. Crichlow is a lifelong New Yorker who started his career with the MTA in 1997 as an assistant signal maintainer at the Long Island Rail Road, rising through the ranks at the LIRR to become Train Movement Supervisor overseeing operations at Penn Station Central Control. In 2007 he transferred to MTA Headquarters to become Special Assistant for Operations for then-Executive Director Elliot G. “Lee” Sander.
While Crichlow started his career at the LIRR, his father — who retired as a car inspector for Subways — had always hoped he would continue the family tradition of working at NYCT. When Crichlow became Deputy General Manager for the line, it solidified three generations of service that began with his grandfather. Since then, he took on increasing responsibility within NYCT, including Chief Officer of Field Operations, Chief Officer of the Operations Control Center, and Vice President & Chief Officer of Staten Island Railway.
As the Senior Vice President for the Department of Subways, he led efforts for across-the-board service improvements and steered the department out of the pandemic years with sustained ridership growth. This included working intimately on the implementation of communications-based train control on the line and line and its current expansion in the system, making vast upgrades to the customer environment, and rebuilding its 29,000-person workforce post pandemic.
Crichlow is the 12th permanent president of New York City Transit since the agency adopted its current leadership structure in 1973. (Previously the New York City Transit Authority had been led by a multi-member board in keeping with tradition established in the 1924 by its predecessor, the New York City Board of Transportation, which unified three competing subway systems and a larger number of bus companies in 1940.)
Tim Mulligan, Chief of Rolling Stock Program
Tim Mulligan has been appointed the Authority’s first Chief of Rolling Stock Program, reporting to MTA Chief Administrative Officer Lisette Camilo after serving as the Deputy Chief Development Officer at MTA C&D. In this role Mulligan will ensure the MTA is a reliable and engaged business partner as it looks to execute the largest rolling stock replacement in the history of the MTA, a major priority of the 2025 – 2029 Capital Plan which calls for 2,000 new railcars.
By bringing a career-long dedication to fiscal responsibility to this role, Mulligan will bolster the MTA’s position to improve pricing, strengthen purchasing power and support a competitive marketplace. In his previous position, he ran the Development Department and oversaw C&D’s budget and program management needs.
Mersida Ibric, Chief People Officer
Mersida Ibric has been appointed Chief People Officer after serving in the role in an acting capacity for six months, bringing over 16 years of experience in the public sector. In this position she will oversee and execute the Authority’s People management strategy and report directly to Camilo. Ibric joined the MTA in January 2022 as its Deputy Chief Administrative Officer following time at the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) as Deputy Commissioner and Chief Diversity Officer.
Ibric has previously worked at the Mayor's Office of Contract Services as Deputy Director for Research and IT where she was responsible for maintaining and developing procurement data analytics and reporting, along with planning and developing mayoral procurement initiatives.