Sarah Elizabeth Feinberg (born October 3, 1977) is an American civic employee who previously served as the Interim President of the New York City Transit Authority from 2020 to 2021, and a former Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. She was nominated for the role of MTA Chairperson but was ultimately not selected for the position.[2] Her background is mostly in communications.[1]
Feinberg served as Bloomberg LP’s Global Communications Director (2010-11), and as the Director of Policy and Crisis Communications at Facebook (2011-13).[4][5][2]
In 2017 she founded Feinberg Strategies, LLC, a strategic business and communications consulting practice focused on the tech sector.[4]
Feinberg, from 2015 to 2017, served as the 13th Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, the safety regulator of the U.S. rail system, becoming the second woman in history to do so.[10][11] She was nominated for the post by President Obama in June 2015, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.[12] Feinberg served on the Amtrak board of directors during that time, and has been a member of the Northeast Corridor Commission, starting in 2015.[4][2] Feinberg was instrumental in helping Governor Andrew Cuomo resolve a LIRR dispute in 2016.
Beginning in February 2019, she was a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Board, where she was the Transit Committee Chair.[4][5][11] In March 2020, Cuomo appointed her interim President of the New York City Transit Authority after the resignation of Andy Byford.[4][5][13] She stepped away from her position as an MTA Board member to serve.[11] On June 8, 2021, Cuomo nominated Feinberg to be chairperson of the MTA, succeeding Pat Foye, who had been both chairperson and CEO.[14] Due to opposition to splitting the top role between two people, the state Senate did not act on her nomination; as a result, Feinberg left the MTA on July 30, 2021.[15]
Other work
Feinberg currently serves on the StoryCorps board of directors.[4][2]
Personal
She is a resident of the East Village in Manhattan, New York City, with her partner and daughter.[4][5][16] She was previously married to Dan Pfeiffer.[1]