Coscia tapped to chair Amtrak board

Anthony Coscia has been elected chair of the board of directors of Amtrak, succeeding Thomas C. Carper, the agency announced this morning.”It is an honor to serve as Amtrak’s next chairman and I thank the Obama administration and many members from both houses of Congress whose support for Amtrak has been invaluable,” Coscia said in a statement. “As chairman, I am committed to increasing ridership, strengthening Amtrak’s operational performance and improving its financial position.”
Coscia has been a board member of Amtrak since June 2010, as well as a partner of Windels, Marx, Lane & Mittendorf, in New Brunswick. He’s also on the board of Sun Bancorp, and has served as head of the Economic Development Authority and chair of the board of commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Coscia has served as chair of the audit and finance committee for Amtrak, and according to Amtrak, has strongly supported investments in the national rail network, particularly in the Northeast Corridor. Coscia told NJBIZ earlier this year that Hurricane Sandy has rallied disparate parties around the need to upgrade the rail network.
Colleagues and supporters have said Coscia’s combination of a dedicated work ethic, as well as the ability to cross partisan lines, have served him well as he’s negotiated difficult deals.
“He can take a complicated situation, and he can draw from all of his different experiences — his legal experience, his business experience, and his common sense — and devise a solution,” Thomas X. Geisel, Sun president and CEO, previously said of Coscia.
Coscia could not immediately be reached for comment.