Posted on December 10, 2025
Kathryn Garcia, a top aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul and former DSNY commissioner, will become the next executive director of Port Authority, Hochul announced Tuesday.
The news comes after Rick Cotton announced his retirement from the role after more than eight years.
Garcia, a candidate in the Democratic primary for mayor in 2021, is currently the director of state operations for New York.
She led the sanitation department under Mayor Bill de Blasio at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jackie Bray, emergency operations commissioner for the Division of Homeland Security, will serve as the new director of state operations in Garcia’s place, Hochul announced.
