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 s 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.