Denver RTD Board of Directors selects Paul Ballard as interim general manager and CEO

Jan. 29, 2020
Ballard has more than 45 years of experience leading transit systems including Trinity Metro, Nashville MTA and Regional Transportation Authority of Middle Tennessee.

Paul Ballard has been appointed to be the interim general manager and CEO by the Denver Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) Board of Directors.

Contract negotiations with Ballard are under way. A start date for the position will be announced soon.

Ballard retired in April 2019 as CEO from Trinity Metro, which serves the city of Fort Worth, Texas, and its suburbs. Prior to that, he was CEO of the Nashville MTA and Regional Transportation Authority of Middle Tennessee. For more than four and a half decades, Ballard has served as a general manager, CEO or president of public- and private-sector transit systems.

The board was impressed with Ballard’s experience, leadership and ideas, said Chair Angie Rivera-Malpiede. With this selection, the group believes he is well-suited to guide Denver RTD through a period of transition, until a permanent general manager and CEO is named.

“My board colleagues and I think that Mr. Ballard will skillfully lead us into RTD’s next era while also ensuring that the agency’s employees remain focused on their service to the public,” Rivera-Malpiede said. “On behalf of every board member, we want to thank the community for its input as part of this process. We look forward to working with him in the months ahead.”

The search for a permanent general manager and CEO began with board approval to designate up to $200,000 to fund activities associated with an executive search. These activities include the use of an executive search firm, communications outreach associated with the search and external legal counsel to conduct negotiations for both the interim and permanent general manager and CEO positions. Any funds not spent at the close of the search will be returned to the reserve account from which they came.

Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit), Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDOT), Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) and the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT)
AC Transit Board of Directors has appointed Kathleen Kelly as its new transit district's interim general manager, Veronica P. McBeth has been named its new director of BCDOT, CDTA Vice President of Finance and Administration Michael Collins will be taking on the position of interim CEO and Detroit People Mover General Manager (GM) Robert Cramer has been named Detroit, Mich,’sthe new executive director of transit for Detroit.