Tracey Mitchell First Joined the MTA in 2019
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced the appointment of Tracey Mitchell as the new Interim Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the MTA. As Interim Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Mitchell oversees the MTA’s continued efforts to provide equitable and inclusive opportunities for both career opportunities within the transit authority and contracting and business opportunities for external parties -- all while maintaining compliance with local, state, and federal laws and regulations. Mitchell takes over from Michael J. Garner who had served in the position since 2009.
Mitchell has served the public for over two decades across the New York metropolitan area. Mitchell joined the MTA in 2019 after assisting the Empire State Development team by overseeing Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) including components of numerous billion-dollar projects such as the Moynihan Penn Station project. While serving at the MTA as the MWBE/DBE/SDVOB Director of Special Projects for the Office of New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Mitchell oversaw MWDBE/SDVOB goals for $30 billion in infrastructure projects including the transformative $1.6 billion Third Track Project for the Long Island Rail Road and the $1.7 billion Penn Station Access project.
“Tracey Mitchell has a proven track record of ensuring that major projects with billion-dollar budgets achieve ambitious goals for inclusivity with Minority, Women-owned and Disadvantaged Businesses,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “As the MTA continues to deliver our $55 billion 2020–24 Capital Program, I’m confident Tracey will ensure that the MTA’s MWBE and DBE contracting goals and other DEI responsibilities are implemented every step of the way.”
“I’m thrilled to take on this new role and thank Chair Lieber for the opportunity to continue my career’s work of upholding a mission of diversity and inclusion in the public sector” said MTA Interim Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Tracey Mitchell. “I’m eager to put my decades of work in this sector to good use and see what else the MTA can accomplish.”
Mitchell is a Mt. Vernon native and received her bachelor’s degree at Herbert H. Lehman College. She later received a master’s in compliance from Morgan State University and is a trained arbitrator. Mitchell serves on several boards including the Westchester Medical Center.
The MTA has developed one of the country’s leading MWDBE Business Development programs and has further supported small businesses through its Construction Small Business Mentoring Program which has awarded over $400 million in contracts. In 2021, Governor Hochul honored the MTA with the Minority- Women-owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) Champion Award for awarding the most amount of money to MWBEs out of 97 state agencies.