Former Massachusetts Convention Center Authority board chair Gloria Cordes Larson will take over running the agency on a temporary basis after its previous executive director left amidst controversy with its board.

The MCCA board approved Larson for the interim executive director role during a late-afternoon meeting on Thursday. She will serve in the role for six months, board chair Emme Handy said.

Larson’s salary will be “along the same parameters” as past director Gibbons, Handy said. Gibbons made $316,000 in 2022.

Larson will have to right the ship after former Executive Director David Gibbons stepped down last month more than a year before his contract was set to end and shortly after a series of apparent missteps. An investigation this fall found the agency fell short on diversity and inclusion efforts, and drama escalated surrounding an allegedly opaque process to choose a developer for a valuable piece of state-owned land in South Boston.

Larson is a lawyer who has served on and around Beacon Hill for decades.

She joined former Gov. Bill Weld’s administration in 1991 as his secretary of consumer affairs and business regulation. She served in the cabinet for two years until she left to join private law practice Foley Hoag LLP.

In 1998, Larson was appointed to serve as chair of the board of the MCCA. During her tenure governing the agency until 2010, MCCA renovated the MassMutual Center in Springfield and constructed the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, which opened in June 2004.

“Gloria Larson is widely respected with a great resume,” said state Sen. Nick Collins of South Boston, who Chairs the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight with jurisdiction over quasi-public state agencies like the MCCA.

“In addition to helping take the MCCA to the next level as Chair of the Board during the construction of the BCEC, she did that and more in taking Bentley from a college to a university. I’m hopeful she will bring that same energy to implement the reforms that the agency so desperately needs,” Collins said.

Larson’s time at the MCCA overlapped with former Executive Director Jim Rooney, who led the agency from 2003 until 2015. Rooney now serves as president and CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to joining the Republican Weld’s administration, Larson also supported former Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, in his run for the Corner Office and served as co-chair of his transition team. She also led his Council of Economic Advisors, and served as co-chair of the Patrick administration’s finance commission for his education reform proposal.

Most recently, she was the president of Bentley University from 2007 through 2018.

The board’s executive committee approved Larson to lead the agency on an interim basis unanimously with a 6-0 vote.

However, some board members had concerns about the appointment and said they were only comfortable supporting her temporarily.

Gloria Cordes Larson (State House News photo)