September 19, 2024

Dorval R. Carter, Jr. – President – Chicago Transit Authority

City Club event description:

Dorval R. Carter, Jr.
As President of the CTA, Dorval R. Carter, Jr. oversees more than 10,000 employees and helps ensure that everyone works together in adhering to the agency’s mission of delivering quality, affordable transit services that link people, jobs and communities.

Appointed as CTA President in 2015, Mr. Carter has led the way for unprecedented investment in CTA. Under Mayors Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot, Mr. Carter has overseen more than $8 billion of projects completed, begun or announced—including the largest construction project in CTA history (the Red and Purple Modernization), the largest railcar order in the agency’s history, and the reconstruction/rehabilitation of more than 40 rail stations.

Prior to becoming CTA President, Mr. Carter served as the Acting Chief of Staff to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, managing a department with more than 55,000 employees and a $70 billion budget that oversees air, maritime and surface transportation.

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Prior to that, Mr. Carter served as Acting Deputy Administrator for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) as well as FTA’s Chief Counsel, where he provided support to the Department of Transportation’s General Counsel on legal matters concerning the federal transit program.

Mr. Carter is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the 2019 Motorola Foundation Excellence in Public Service Award from the Civic Federation of Chicago; the Transportation Research Board’s 2021 Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lectureship; and most recently the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) 2021 Outstanding Public Transportation Manager Award, the same year the CTA was named APTA’s Outstanding Public Transportation System.

A graduate of Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he is Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mr. Carter also holds a Juris Doctor degree from Howard University School of Law. He is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., as well as the Illinois and Federal bar associations.