MBTA chief out after 15 months

BOSTON — The general manager of the Boston area’s troubled public transportation agency is out after just 15 months on the job.

State Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack announced Tuesday that Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority General Manager Luis Ramirez will be replaced by Steve Poftak. He’s the current vice chairman of the MBTA’s fiscal control board.

A statement from the state Department of Transportation said the “MBTA and Ramirez ... mutually agreed that the time was right for him to separate” from the agency and pursue other opportunities.

Ramirez signed a threeyear contract in August 2017 even though he had no public transit experience, just private sector experience in corporate turnarounds.

Under the contract, Ramirez was paid $320,000 a year with the possibility of bonuses. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker defended his administration’s hiring of Ramirez at the time.

Ramirez previously worked at Unisys Corp., Siemens AG and General Electric Corp., where he rose to CEO of its Energy Industrial Solutions business.

Pollack in a statement credited Ramirez with helping work on key initiatives “such as procuring a new operator for The RIDE dispatch center, advocating for bus lanes, and ensuring on-time installation of Positive Train Control” — technology that can automatically slow or stop a speeding train.