Longtime CTA chief of staff Nora Leerhsen to take over as acting president when Dorval Carter Jr. retires

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Transit Authority announced Wednesday that chief of staff Nora Leerhsen will take over as acting president of the transit agency when current President Dorval Carter Jr. retires at the end of the month.

"I look forward to serving our riders and employees in this new role. This is a critical time for our agency and for the future of public transit," Leerhsen said in a news release. "As acting president, I will build on our accomplishments as an agency and am confident that we are up to the task of carrying CTA successfully through this transition."

Leerhsen takes over the role on Sunday, Feb. 1, the day after Carter's retirement.

The CTA noted that Leerhsen is the first woman to lead the agency in its 77-year history.

She has been with the CTA since 2014, and served in her first four years several capacities—including senior advisor to the chief of staff and chief operating officer and deputy chief of staff. She also worked in the CTA safety and law departments on agencywide audits, ethics matters, and safety compliance, the CTA said.

Leerhsen became chief of staff of the CTA in 2018. In that role, she has overseen all operations—including service delivery, capital planning, employee programming, and communications strategy. She also served as the primary liaison to the Mayor's office, CTA Board, Chicago city departments and agencies, and RTA and service boards.

Leerhsen holds a law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison., a master's degree in social science from the University of Chicago, another master's degree in education from Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, and a bachelor's degree from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Carter announced Monday that he will be retiring at the end of the month after 40 years of service in public transportation. He is leaving the CTA to become the head of St. Anthony Hospital in North Lawndale.

Carter has been on the job nearly 10 years, but over the last year, pressure has been ratcheted up to remove him amid questions of safety, cleanliness, and timeliness of buses and trains. He faced criticism, and calls for his resignation  made headlines last year.

CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. Announces Retirement

January 13, 2025

National Public Transit Leader’s Departure Brings Storied 40-Year Career in Public Transportation to a Close

Today, Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. announced that he will retire from leadership of the nation’s third-largest public transit agency, effective Friday, January 31, 2025. Carter’s retirement ends a 40-year career in public transportation that has included nearly 10 years as CTA president.

“The City of Chicago is grateful to President Dorval Carter for his decades of service with the Chicago Transit Authority,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “His leadership reimagined the movement of our city. His stewardship of the Red Line Extension project is just one of the notable achievements in his historic career.”

Carter began his CTA career in September 1984 as a staff attorney and has worked at the agency for a combined 26 years. During that time, he served as acting president, executive vice-president, chief administrative officer and in a number of legal roles, as well. His public transit career has also included nearly 15 years in senior leadership roles at the United States Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

“Serving as president of this great agency has been an extraordinary privilege and I am forever grateful for what has been the opportunity of a lifetime,” said Carter. “It has been an honor to work on behalf of CTA customers and to advance our mission in a city that I love so dearly.”

“President Carter is an internationally recognized and highly respected leader in the public transit industry, and CTA has been fortunate to benefit from his leadership and vision over the past decade as president,” said Chicago Transit Board chairman Lester Barclay. “Since I became chair in 2021, I have seen firsthand his unwavering commitment to equity and his passion for this agency, which is exemplified through transformative projects like the Red Line Extension. His legacy will leave a lasting impact on CTA, and we are grateful for his dedicated service.”

During his tenure as CTA president, Carter has overseen more than $11 billion in projects that have been completed, begun or announced. These projects have included some of the biggest and most ambitious capital projects in CTA history, including the $5.7 billion Red Line Extension (RLE)—the single largest capital construction project in the agency’s history—the $2.1 billion first phase of the Red Purple Modernization Program and billions of dollars in other projects and initiatives, like the $280 million renovation of the 95th/Dan Ryan Terminal, the $203 million Wilson Station Reconstruction project and many other capital construction, modernization or system improvement projects.

Carter is also responsible for several equity-focused initiatives that have received national attention, including:

• The All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP):  ASAP is CTA’s visionary blueprint for making all of its rail stations fully accessible to people with mobility disabilities. As a result of Carter’s close work with U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, the FTA modeled its own $1.75 billion federal All Stations Accessibility Program on CTA’s ASAP program. Today, FTA’s ASAP program specifically benefits legacy transit agencies, like CTA, to help increase the number of accessible rail stations those systems provide. CTA has received $118.5 million in federal ASAP funding and, over the past six years, the agency has secured $740.8 million in funding from various sources. Improvements at 14 CTA rail stations are currently funded or under construction.
• CTA’s Second Chance Program: Nearly two decades ago, Carter helped create CTA’s Second Chance program for the purpose of giving individuals with barriers to employment an opportunity to work at CTA in good-paying union jobs. During his tenure as president, Second Chance has grown to become a national model, providing a holistic approach to preparing individuals to be self-sufficient through a wide range of training, education, mentoring and wrap-around services. Since 2011, more than 2,200 individuals, many of whom were justice-system involved, have participated in CTA’s Second Chance Program and more than 550 have been hired for full or part-time jobs at CTA. 
• Diversity Programs Initiatives: Carter has worked diligently to improve and expand CTA’s Diversity Programs initiatives since his 2015 appointment. CTA is now recognized as a leader among the best and most productive agencies at creating opportunities and programs for Small and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises and disadvantaged workers.

In 2022, Carter was elected chair of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), a nonprofit international association representing more than 1,500 public and private sector member organizations. He currently serves as chair of APTA’s Bus Manufacturing Task Force, which has recommended immediate actions to support a more competitive and stable bus manufacturing capacity in the United States.

Carter has received numerous prestigious awards and honors, including the Council of University Transportation Centers’ 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award for Transportation Professional and Public Service. He was also the recipient of APTA’s Outstanding Public Transportation Manager Award in 2021, the same year that CTA was recognized with the Outstanding Public Transportation System Award—two of the highest honors in the North American public transportation industry and the first time that an agency and its CEO won those awards in the same year. He was recognized with the 2021 Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lectureship Award from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Transportation Research Board and, in 2019, he was awarded the 2019 Motorola Foundation Excellence in Public Service Award from the Civic Federation of Chicago.

Carter currently serves in leadership roles for several organizations. He is a co-chair for the Equity in Infrastructure Project, a national initiative that seeks to improve public contracting practices throughout the transportation industry. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for Mpact, a national nonprofit organization that focuses on the intersection of transit, mobility, land use and development. He also served as chair of the Board of Trustees for Carroll University, his alma mater.

In the coming weeks, Carter will assume leadership of Saint Anthony Hospital on Chicago’s West Side, where he will serve as president and CEO. Carter served on Saint Anthony’s Board for more than a decade, most recently as Board chair, and he will continue to utilize his significant management skills and experience in his new role. He will continue a long family tradition of serving Saint Anthony Hospital, where his father, Dr. Dorval R. Carter, Sr., worked for 40 years and served for more than 10 years as chair of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department.

Last budget before operating fiscal cliff crisis foreshadows risk for regional transit’s future without a sustainable funding solution

CHICAGO, DEC. 19, 2024 – The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) Board of Directors voted today to adopt the 2025 regional transit operating budget and 2025-2029 capital program, the last one supported by federal COVID relief dollars before an operating fiscal cliff threatens our region’s transit system and puts current double-digit ridership growth at risk.

The 2025 budget includes $4.147 billion in operating expenses for northeastern Illinois’ transit system, and a 2025-2029 Regional Capital Program of $9.469 billion, a significant increase from previous capital programs, in large part due to federal and local funds for the Red Line Extension being programmed.

Despite funding challenges, the region’s transit system continues to recover ridership, improve safety and security, and deliver transit options riders need. The system provides more than 1.2 million rides per day, with special events and off-peak trips outpacing pre-pandemic ridership numbers. Each agency has seen double-digit year-over-year growth, thanks to service expansions that would not have been possible without federal COVID relief dollars. In places where more service was added, riders have returned.

Looking ahead, 2026 will be a critical pivot point when all COVID relief money will be spent, and the region will face a choice. Absent sustainable funding for transit operations, the system falls off the fiscal cliff, dramatic service cuts lead to immediate drops in ridership, making the budget gap larger and harder to solve. Or we invest in our region, securing sustainable funding and ridership grows with more service on the street.

The budget gap, which equals 20 percent of the region’s operations budget, translates to a 40 percent cut in service across all operators, which would be devastating for the region and would set off a downward spiral that would be nearly impossible to escape. On the other hand, increasing annual operating funding by at least $1.5 billion a year from current levels allows the transit agencies to expand and improve service -- for example, expanding Pace Pulse, increasing frequency across Metra lines, and overhauling CTA’s bus service to work better for riders.

“In 2025, the region faces a critical decision for the future. Inaction will doom the Chicago region’s transit system to fall off the fiscal cliff and face cuts that make the system worse, or we can work together to achieve investment at levels that will unlock the region’s potential and meet our shared goals on equity, climate change, and rider experience,” said Executive Director Leanne Redden.

Chicago ranks fifth worldwide for worst congestion, and a 40 percent reduction in service would add 366 million vehicle miles to our already congested roads while costing the region $50 million a year in lost productivity. But importantly, it hurts our residents, costing them more than $1,600 a year and taking away precious time they could be spending with their families or just not sitting in traffic.

The greatest risk we face right now is inaction. The State must act in the first half of 2025 to secure the future of the Chicago region’s transit system. If Illinois does not act by spring 2025, CTA, Metra and Pace will be forced to shift their focus from improvements and expansion to prepare for drastic service cuts and fare increases to balance their budgets.

Influx of capital funding helps achieve regional goals, but need operational funds to support

The 2025 budget also details the 2025-2029 Regional Capital Program of $9.469 billion, which is $3.5 billion larger than the 2024-2028 Capital Program, in large part due to funds for the Red Line Extension. Major investment from state and federal legislation has been a good first step, but the unmet need remains great. The 10-year regional capital funding need for all the priority projects in this budget totals $42.7 billion, but the vast majority of that need (more than 75 percent) remains unfunded.

This budget continues to implement the RTA Regional Transit Strategic Plan, Transit is the Answer, which was adopted in February 2023. That plan set a vision of safe, reliable, accessible public transportation that connects people to opportunity, advances equity, and combats climate change. That vision and the plan’s principles of Equity, Stewardship, and Commitment to Change, guide this budget and the work of the regional transit system going forward.

The 2025 budget will continue to make great strides toward achieving the goals of the plan. For example, on the action item to “Accelerate the transition to a zero-emission regional transit system and prioritize communities burdened by poor air quality,” 82% of Pace’s 2025-2029 Capital Program will be used to replace diesel buses with electric buses. Between CTA and Pace, the regional capital program funds the purchase of nearly 300 electric buses. Major projects like the Red Line Extension will advance equity and ongoing work between the Service Boards and help to ensure the transit system is connecting people to opportunity.

The funds and years of work put in to make progress on investing in the region’s infrastructure cannot be fully leveraged without an investment in transit operations to keep the buses and trains running at the frequency riders need.

The budget and capital program were released for public comment on Nov. 15, and the RTA presented to all six county boards in the region and held a virtual public hearing on Dec. 3, which followed similar hearings and comment periods by CTA, Metra and Pace for their respective budgets. These materials and activities are documented on the RTA’s website, and the 2025-2029 Capital Program is also available on RTAMS, the RTA’s mapping and statistics website.

Since the adoption of “Transit is the Answer,” the RTA has launched and grown a coalition of transit supporters. The Transit is the Answer Coalition meets quarterly with more than 100 members to discuss key initiatives of plan implementation, including safety and security, affordable fares and more. These conversations have directly guided programs as they have been developed and will continue in 2025. Join the coalition and subscribe to the RTA newsletter for updates.

Contact:
Melissa Meyer, Communications Manager (312-913-3121, Melissa.Meyer@RTAChicago.org)