NEW YORK, NY — AECOM announces it has appointed Sally Librera, a senior transportation leader and the first woman to oversee New York City’s subway operations, to lead its North American transit practice. Librera joined the global transportation design firm as a Senior Vice President.

Librera’s 25-year career spans public and private sector work and includes many firsts. At New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Librera oversaw operations as Chief Officer for the Staten Island Railway and MTA NYC Transit Subways, North America’s largest urban rail network. As Chief Officer, she led the subways team through a performance turnaround and delivered customer service improvements — cutting delays in half and reducing run times on every line in the system that moved a daily, pre-pandemic ridership of 5.6 million people across 660 miles of track and 472 stations.

“A senior leader of Sally’s caliber with extensive strategic planning, operations, and front-line experience extends the value AECOM delivers to its public transit clients as they rebound from COVID-19 and look to optimize historic transportation investment for the future,” said Jennifer Aument, Chief Executive of AECOM’s global transportation business. “Sally is also a pioneer in our industry and an incredible role model for young professional women pursuing transportation careers.”

With advanced degrees in urban planning and civil and environment engineering, Librera began her career at MTA in 2004 and advanced to oversee occupational, employee, and system safety compliance; service delivery and control center operations; emergency and incident response; right-of-way system maintenance and construction; new car design and acceptance; fleet overhaul and maintenance; facility maintenance; and front-line customer service operations.

“In her new role, Sally is responsible for setting the strategic course and extending the growth of our North American transit business, and we’re excited to have her here,’’ said Russell Jackson, AECOM’s Global Transit Director. “She will also leverage her capabilities globally to deliver solutions that advance our clients’ goals of delivering safe, sustainable, and cost-effective public transit systems.”

Librera was a 2021 Railway Age Women in Rail honoree and received the 2019 Transportation Diversity Council’s Distinguished Leadership Award. She is an active contributor, speaker, and leader throughout the transportation industry.