RTA Announces the Appointment of Two New Members to the Board

The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) announced the appointment of Carole L. Brown and Samuel M. Mencoff as its newest board members. Brown and Mencoff will replace board members Dr. Horace E. Smith and Michael Rosenberg who represent the city of Chicago.

Brown is the managing director at Barclays Capital, heading the firm’s Midwest municipal practice. She serves as the senior investment banker for local municipal clients including the city of Chicago, the states of Illinois, Michigan and Indiana, the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Board of Education. Brown previously served as chairman of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) board from 2003 to 2009 and on the RTA board from 2003 to 2008.

Mencoff is a founding partner and co-CEO of Madison Dearborn Partners, one of the nation’s leading private equity investment firms, with over $18 billion of capital under management. He has been active in the private equity industry since 1981, where he joined First Chicago Venture Capital, a private equity portfolio of approximately $150 million at the time. Prior to co-founding Madison Dearborn Partners in 1992, Mencoff and his colleagues expanded First Chicago’s private equity portfolio, building First Chicago Venture Capital into one of the nation’s largest and most profitable bank-affiliated private equity investment firms.

“We welcome Ms. Brown and Mr. Mencoff to our board. Their professional experience and dedication to the community will serve our Board well,” said John S. Gates, Jr., RTA board chairman. 

Brown and Mencoff have a host of honors and recognitions. Brown currently serves on several boards, including Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Rush University Medical Center, Metropolitan Planning Council, Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Chicago High School for the Arts, The Auto Club Group and Auto Club Insurance Association. She was named one of Crain’s Chicago Business’s 40 under 40 and was also named one of the 25 Women to Watch.

In 2005, Brown was named a Business Leader of Color by Chicago United and also one of the Top 50 Under 50 by Black MBA Magazine. In 2007, Brown was selected by Working Mother to receive the Legacy Award at its Chicago Multicultural Women's Town Hall.

Mencoff serves on the boards of a number of public and private companies and non-profit organizations, including Smurfit Kappa Group, Packaging Corporation of America, Boise Cascade Holdings, World Business Chicago, Mencoff serves as Chairman of the Investment Committee for the North Shore University Health System, as well as on the Board of Fellows of Brown University, and on the Board of Trustees of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago and the Economic Club of Chicago.

Brown is a native of Baltimore and a graduate of Harvard College. She came to Chicago in 1986 to attend Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where she received her Master’s in Management in 1989. Mencoff earned his BA from Brown University in 1978 and his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1981.

Brown and Mencoff are scheduled to attend the RTA board meeting on Thursday, December 15.