CTA President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. to retire from public transit

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) President Dorval R. Carter, Jr. will be retiring from the public transit industry on Jan. 31, 2025, after a 40-year career in public transportation that has included nearly 10 years as CTA president. 

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. 

Carter’s leadership drove the CTA through significant rebuild projects, like the Red Purple Line Modernization and landmark station reconstructions at Wilson and 95th Street and helping to secure federal dollars for the Red Line Extension project. The region also benefited from his leadership with CTA’s All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP), which the CTA says became the model for grantmaking to enhance accessibility in the federal Infrastructure and Jobs Investment Act. Through ASAP, the CTA worked to make all its rail stations fully accessible to people with mobility disabilities. 

The CTA says Carter’s close work with U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) encouraged the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to model its own $1.75 billion federal ASAP on CTA’s ASAP program. The 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. 

“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 Chair 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: 

• CTA’s Second Chance Program: Nearly two decades ago, Carter helped create this 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, the CTA says 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.  
• Diversity programs initiatives: Carter has worked to improve and expand CTA’s diversity programs initiatives since his 2015 appointment.  

“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,” Carter said. “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.” 

His public transit career has also included nearly 15 years in senior leadership roles at the U.S. Department of Transportation and the FTA. Carter worked to lead a staff of more than 500 in the Washington, D.C., FTA headquarters office and 10 regional offices throughout the United States and implementing an annual budget approximating $10 billion. 

In 2022, Carter was elected chair of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and currently serves as chair of the APTA 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, according to CTA.  

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. 

Carter will be taking his career onto a new path, serving as president and CEO of Saint Anthony Hospital on Chicago’s West Side. Carter served on Saint Anthony’s board for more than a decade, most recently as board chair and he will continue to utilize his management skills and experience in his new role. His father, Dr. Dorval R. Carter, Sr., worked for the hospital for 40 years and served for more than 10 years as chair of the obstetrics and gynecology department. 

A graduate of Carroll University in Waukesha, Wis., where he is vice chairman of the board of trustees, he also holds a Juris Doctor degree from Howard University School of Law and is a member of the Illinois and Federal Bars.