Massport CEO Biography

Thomas P Glynn Headshot Thomas P. Glynn, Ph.D, became Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) on November 1, 2012. With many years of executive experience, Glynn has led organizations in both the public and non-profit sectors and at the state and federal level.

As head of Massport, Glynn oversees the 1,290-person agency that owns and operates Boston Logan International Airport, Hanscom Field, Worcester Regional Airport, the Port of Boston’s Conley Container Terminal and Black Falcon Cruise Terminal, and real estate holdings in South Boston, East Boston and Charlestown. A financially self-sustaining public authority, Massport generates its own revenues to support an annual $700 million operation. Under Glynn’s leadership, Massport has expanded Boston’s global reach by increasing the number of nonstop international flights from Logan Airport, advanced Boston’s working maritime tradition by protecting thousands of good paying blue collar jobs connected to the Port of Boston and demonstrated a commitment to being a good neighbor to those who live and work near Massport facilities by increasing community engagement efforts.

Glynn first gained experience in transportation when Governor Michael Dukakis appointed him to be General Manager of the MBTA in 1989, where he took charge of an agency with 7,000 employees serving nearly 680,000 daily commuters from 78 communities. Glynn had earlier served in state government as Deputy Welfare Commissioner from 1983 to 1988. Glynn also served as General Manager of Boston’s World Trade Center in the late 1980s and Executive Director of a White House Task Force on Youth Employment in 1979.

As Deputy U.S. Labor Secretary in the Clinton Administration from 1993 to 1996, Glynn and U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich were among the most active participants in Vice President Al Gore’s Reinventing Government initiative to streamline public sector services, receiving more awards than any other cabinet agency.

From 1996 to 2010, Glynn was Chief Operating Officer of Partners HealthCare, at that time an $8 billion network of teaching hospitals and neighborhood health centers that includes Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, both affiliated with Harvard Medical School. As COO for 14 years, Glynn oversaw more than 3,300 workers in an organization that made major strides to reach out to the surrounding community in areas of poverty and homelessness, improved healthcare access and workforce development.

Glynn is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a former board member of the Council for Excellence in Government. A former lecturer at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Glynn earned a B.A. in Economics from Tufts University and a Ph.D from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

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