CTA Chief of Staff Appointed Interim President as Dorval Carter Bids Farewell After 26 Years

Outgoing CTA President Dorval Carter (right) shakes hands with CTA Board Chairman Lester Barclay at the Jan. 15, 2025, meeting of the transit agency’s board of directors. (Nick Blumberg / WTTW News) Outgoing CTA President Dorval Carter (right) shakes hands with CTA Board Chairman Lester Barclay at the Jan. 15, 2025, meeting of the transit agency’s board of directors. (Nick Blumberg / WTTW News)

Outgoing Chicago Transit Authority President Dorval Carter capped his nearly 10-year run leading the massive agency at a board meeting Wednesday, saying he’d be “forever grateful for this opportunity to serve our customers (and) the people of the city of Chicago.”

Beginning his remarks more than four hours into the day’s proceedings, Carter jokingly thanked directors “for this very short and quick board meeting.” But those four hours pale in comparison to Carter’s long history with the agency — starting when he first joined the CTA as a staff attorney some 40 years ago.

“I was 27 years old when I first walked into (CTA headquarters) and began my career,” Carter recalled. “Like most young people, I honestly had no idea what the future was going to hold. Even as I found myself quickly enamored with public service, even as I felt the deepening pride of being a part of an agency that is so important to Chicago residents and visitors, I never imagined that I would end up becoming president of the Chicago Transit Authority.”

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Carter ended up working for the CTA on and off for some 26 years, in addition to holding transit roles in the federal government. He was appointed CTA president by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2015.

“This job can be very difficult,” Carter said, “but the challenges that I faced have been eclipsed by the opportunity to work with a group of professionals who are among the best in our industry.”

Among those challenges have been harsh criticism in recent years over gaps in bus and train service, unpredictable wait times, concerns about rider safety, and a lack of transparency. His relationship with some alderpeople became so rocky that the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance requiring the CTA’s president to appear for quarterly meetings.

Mayor Brandon Johnson faced a frequent chorus of calls to “fire Dorval Carter,” an authority that lies with the CTA board. Johnson will now be faced with the task of replacing Carter at a time when the agency is juggling multiple major infrastructure projects, facing down a coming budget gap of hundreds of millions of dollars and still hasn’t regained the ridership it enjoyed pre-pandemic.

Nora Leerhsen, Dorval Carter’s chief of staff, has been appointed interim CTA president. (Courtesy of CTA)Nora Leerhsen, Dorval Carter’s chief of staff, has been appointed interim CTA president. (Courtesy of CTA)

At Wednesday’s board meeting, directors appointed Carter’s chief of staff of more than six years, Nora Leerhsen, to serve as acting president of the CTA. Leerhsen, who has been with the agency for more than a decade, will be paid during her tenure based on the annual salary of $278,703. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin. Her appointment begins Feb. 1; Leerhsen will be the first woman to lead the agency.

“I look forward to serving our riders and employees in this new role,” Leerhsen said in a statement. “This is a critical time for our agency and for the future of public transit. 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.”

During his remarks Wednesday, Carter lauded people he called the “most important, most vital employees” at the CTA — the bus and train operators, maintenance and customer service workers and other key frontline workers who keep the agency running.

The outgoing president became emotional while board members lauded his leadership. CTA board chairman Lester Barclay praised Carter’s “steadfast commitment” to the agency, particularly his efforts to keep buses and trains running during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When most transit systems ramped down or shut down, you kept our system going for those who relied on it to provide and receive essential services,” Barclay said. “There’s been a great deal of Monday morning quarterbacking (of your) decisions, but to the folks who relied on our system to get them where they needed to go in those critical times, it was imperative.”

The pandemic presented a huge financial challenge to the agency, which Carter and other transit leaders frequently argue has been hampered by a public funding formula that has starved it of badly needed resources for decades. Now, facing a fiscal cliff of more than $500 million when federal COVID-19 relief money runs out next year, Carter has been pushing back against some state lawmakers who are demanding as a condition of more funding a major reform of transit governance — perhaps as drastic as a merger of CTA, Metra, Pace and RTA.

Carter said in his closing address that the CTA’s financial woes are the result of a funding formula he called a “can that has been kicked down the road for decades.”

“Above all else, the future of CTA is about how this region’s public transit systems are funded. … No matter how good one’s intentions, no matter how much one truly believes in equitable transit outcomes, providing the services that our most transit-dependent, low-income customers need costs money,” Carter said. “The unfortunate result is now a political climate where those who are able to effect that change that needs to be made are … looking for scapegoats and excuses on which to blame four decades of inaction.”

Last week, Carter joined local and federal officials to celebrate an agreement for the federal government to provide $1.9 billion in funding toward the Red Line Extension, a longtime priority for the outgoing leader.

“What can get lost in that celebration is the hard work and long history required to actually get to that day,” Carter said, holding the funding agreement up as an example of the kind of intensive effort that will also be required to fix Chicagoland transit’s funding woes.

As for the federal COVID-19 relief money backfilling CTA finances, the agency has drawn down 68.9% of what it received. The CTA has $687.8 million remaining, which is expected to last the agency “into the beginning months of 2026,” according to Chief Financial Officer Tom McKone.

After leaving the CTA, Carter plans to take a role as president and CEO of Saint Anthony Hospital on the West Side, where his father practiced medicine for four decades and whose maternity ward is named in his parents’ honor.

“I could not be more excited to start the next chapter of my life, but I want you all to know that it has been an honor of a lifetime to serve as CTA president,” Carter said. “It is humbling to remember that this journey began when I was a little boy on the South Side of Chicago, discovering our amazing city while riding buses and trains provided by this agency that I would one day lead.”

Contact Nick Blumberg: [email protected] | (773) 509-5434 | @ndblumberg


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