Gov. Maura Healey has selected a new general manager for the MBTA, calling it the most important decision she has made so far as governor. Here are five things to know about Phillip Eng.

Eng will be paid well — very well

The MBTA spent big to attract a new general manager. With a $470,000 base salary, Eng will be one of the top-paid transit agency chiefs in the country. The agency can also boost Eng's base pay with yearly performance-based bonuses and what has been called an “annual retention payment” of $30,000.

Last year, former MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak pulled in just over $417,000 between his base pay and bonuses.

He made dramatic improvements heading the Long Island Rail Road

Eng's most recent public transit role was leading the Long Island Rail Road, the largest commuter line in the country.

He took over in 2018 after the former head resigned following a withering report that found the LIRR had “its worst on-time performance in 18 years.”

In just four years under Eng’s leadership, the railway saw continued improvements in the amount of trains operating on time, reaching a 96.3% on-time rate in 2021 — LIRR's best performance since modern record-keeping began in the 1970s.

Managing the railroad is not all he did in New York

Before taking on the LIRR, he held a number of other positions in New York.

He started out as a junior engineer for New York State's Department of Transportation in 1983, working his way up the ranks of the state agency over the next few decades. He became the department's chief engineer and executive deputy commissioner in 2013.

Eng became chief operating officer of New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority in 2017, and was then named interim president of NYC Transit before taking the lead at LIRR.

He advised the T on building the Green Line Extension

In 2022, Eng joined the LiRo Group, an engineering consultant firm, as the company's executive vice president. In that position he worked with multiple public transportation agencies. He even got a taste of the MBTA through the firm's quality assurance work on the Green Line Extension project.

And he’s not a Yankees fan

As he explained at Monday’s news conference: “I’d like to start off by addressing the big elephant in the room. No, I’m not a Yankees fan.” (Though he later admitted he’s a Mets fan!)