DART welcomes Deanna Leggett as executive vice president of growth and regional development

The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) has named Deanna Leggett as the new executive vice president of growth and regional development. 

A nationally recognized transit leader, Leggett brings more than 20 years of experience in the planning, development and operation of public transportation projects across the country. 

"We are very excited to welcome Dee to the DART family," said Nadine S. Lee, DART president and CEO. "She is a proven transportation leader who brings a unique combination of strategic thought leadership and an extensive record of operations performance, project delivery and innovation that will expand the leadership capacity at DART. I'm looking forward to Dee's contributions to our efforts to enhance the public transportation experience for all our riders." 

In her role, Leggett will oversee DART's Capital Planning, Real Estate, Environmental Compliance, Transit Oriented Development, Capital Program Support, Service Planning, Commuter Rail and Design and Construction Departments, as well as an extensive array of design consultants and construction contractors. 

"DART is a world class organization focused on providing transformative mobility solutions to the region," said Leggett. "I am honored to join their leadership team to help plan and deliver programs, projects and services that meet the future needs of our transit riders and our communities." 

Leggett comes to DART from Hatch LTK where she served as the vice president of the south-central region and director of zero-emissions technology. In that role, she oversaw projects and client engagement for all transit and rail clients in the South-Central region of the United States. She also served as the subject matter expert and project manager for transit contracting, transit planning, transit operations and maintenance, grant funding and federal regulatory requirements. 

"DART has always been a driver of growth and innovation across the North Texas region," said Michele Wong-Krause, chair of the DART Board of Directors. "The knowledge, experience and drive that Dee brings to her role will allow the agency to build on our mission to provide outstanding and customer-driven service to our service area city residents." 

Before joining Hatch LTK, Leggett also served as chief operations officer at Bowman Engineering and Consulting, as well as the southwest region vice president of transit contracting and region vice president of transit management at First Transit. 

A graduate of Leadership APTA, as well as one of Mass Transit's 40 Under 40, Leggett holds a Bachelor of Science in History/Political Science from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington.