Interim, or indefinite? No end in sight to Phil Eng’s double duty

 

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Interim, or indefinite? No end in sight to Phil Eng’s double duty   December 10, 2025 By Chris Lisinski

"In Phil We Trust" sure seems like it will remain the Healey administration’s unofficial motto for the foreseeable future.

It was almost a year ago, in her annual State of the Commonwealth address, that Gov. Maura Healey made that declaration while boasting about the strides made in fixing the long beleaguered MBTA under Phil Eng, the man she brought on as general manager to run the system.

This fall, Healey doubled down on her faith in Eng, tapping him to serve simultaneously as interim transportation secretary while retaining his GM job. All indications suggest he could continue to hold both roles for an extended period.

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The clearest sign of that may be what hasn’t happened: Eight weeks after his appointment, the governor’s office has not even started to search for a permanent secretary. Eng himself has begun signaling an openness to staying in the Cabinet for a longer stretch. Meanwhile, most of those watching developments across the state’s transportation policy landscape appear perfectly content with the setup, even while acknowledging that it’s put a lot of work on the shoulders of one man.

“If anybody can do this, it’s him,” said Kate Dineen, president of the business-backed group A Better City, voicing a sentiment that seems to be widely shared.

Healey asked Eng to take on the second role in mid-October, naming him interim transportation secretary after the abrupt resignation of Monica Tibbits-Nutt. She also named longtime highway administrator Jonathan Gulliver as transportation undersecretary, and, like Eng, asked him to do that new job in addition to his existing one.

At the time, officials were coy about how long Eng would wear two hats. Healey said she was “taking it day by day.”

Nearly two months later, little has changed. Healey's office told CommonWealth Beacon that the administration has not started to search for a permanent transportation secretary, and the governor isn't putting any specifics on when that will change.

One transportation watchdog, with an eye on Healey’s 2026 reelection run, thinks Eng could continue to work both jobs for nearly all of next year.

“I expect that Phil will serve in both roles through the election. He’s the safest pair of hands in transportation,” said Brian Kane, executive director of the MBTA Advisory Board, which represents cities and towns that help fund the T. “I think from [the governor’s] perspective, with an election coming up, they just want to make sure everything is steady.”

For his part, Eng is open to remaining secretary however long Healey wants.

“If it means staying interim for a longer period of time, indefinitely, I’m fine with that,” Eng told CommonWealth Beacon in an interview wedged in between a Massachusetts Department of Transportation board meeting and a bill-signing event with the governor. “If it means an opportunity to discuss a permanent role, I’m fine with that as well.”

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More Context Healey brings in a transit professional to run the T (March 2023) Keeping time with MBTA’s Phil Eng (July 2025)

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