Pat Foye

Life and career

As a lawyer, he worked with Skadden Arps. He was appointed by Governor Eliot Spitzer to be chairman of New York’s Empire State Development Corporation and was a board member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Foye was Deputy County Executive for Economic Development under Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano. In October 2011, Governor Andrew Cuomo appointed Foye to the post of Executive Director of the Port Authority. In November 2015, Foye announced would leave the position in March 2016. In March of 2016, Foye announced he would delay his departure from the position until June 2016, as no replacement had yet been named. Foye later decided to remain in his post as Executive Director. On August 14, 2017, Foye was succeeded by Rick Cotton as Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Fort Lee lane closure scandal

Foye played a key role in ending an allegedly politically motivated traffic blockage that caused gridlock in Fort Lee, New Jersey for four days in 2013. On Monday, September 9 two of three toll lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge from Fort Lee local streets were closed during morning rush hour. Local officials, emergency services and the public were not notified of the lane closures, which Fort Lee declared a threat to public safety. The resulting back-ups on local streets finally ended on Friday morning, September 13 when Foye ordered the two lanes reopened immediately. He said that the "hasty and ill-informed decision" to close lanes could have endangered lives and violated federal and state laws.