Governor Healey Promotes Transit Advocate Monica Tibbits-Nutt to Run MassDOT

Editor’s note: The following is a lightly-edited press release from the Office of Governor Healey.

On Monday, Governor Maura T. Healey announced that she is appointing Monica Tibbits-Nutt as Secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT).

Tibbits-Nutt has been serving as MassDOT’s Acting Secretary since mid-September, when Gina Fiandaca, abruptly announced her resignation. She had previously been the Undersecretary of MassDOT.

“Monica Tibbits-Nutt is a proven leader who has done important work at MassDOT over the past year as we’ve worked to make Massachusetts’ transportation system more reliable, safe and accessible,” said Governor Healey. 

“Secretary Tibbits-Nutt has been a deeply valued member of our team from day one, and our entire administration is thrilled to see her step into this well-deserved role,” said Lieutenant Governor Driscoll. “She has earned the respect of her colleagues and community partners, and I know that our transportation system is in good hands under her leadership.” 

“I am grateful to Governor Healey and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll for the opportunity to lead MassDOT as Secretary,” said Secretary Tibbits-Nutt. “Over the past year, I have had the privilege to serve alongside and get to know the incredible team at MassDOT. We all share a deep commitment to delivering the safe, reliable, resilient and equitable transportation system that the people of Massachusetts deserve. I am honored by the opportunity to lead the Department in this critical moment and build on the progress that the Healey-Driscoll Administration has made together.” 

Prior to joining the Healey administration, Secretary Tibbits-Nutt served as the Executive Director of 128 Business Council, a unique transportation management association and regional service provider that builds privately-funded, cooperative public transportation routes throughout the Route 128 West Corridor.  

Secretary Tibbits-Nutt’s areas of specialty are regional and transportation planning, urban design, and transit equity. In both her work and research, she is particularly interested in capitalizing upon every opportunity to better educate transportation stakeholders and the public about all aspects of the planning process.

As part of this focus on education, she serves as the Vice President of the non-profit Youth Engagement Planning (YEP!), which brings urban planning and community advocacy into K-12 environments.  

Secretary Tibbits-Nutt serves on the Board of Directors of WTS International and the WTS Foundation, which seeks to create a more inclusive and equitable transportation industry and provides scholarships to female-identifying professionals and students, respectively; and on the Board of Trustees of TransitCenter, which works to support, inform, connect and fund civic and public leaders working to truly make transit better. 

Originally hailing from the rural Midwest, she is a first-generation college graduate.