DART selects, doesn't publicly reveal CEO finalist

DALLAS - DART board members have selected a finalist to be their next CEO, but won't reveal who exactly it is until next week.

DART selects new CEO

What we know:

Dallas Area Rapid Transit board members voted nine to six to select a finalist for their vacant President & CEO position.

The vote came during a Tuesday board meeting.

What we don't know:

DART did not publicly name which of the three finalists for the position they selected as their CEO finalist.

The company plans on announcing the candidate on July 21 following the completion of the employment process.

Three finalists were named for the position last Friday. They are:

• Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., CEO of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority
• Dee Leggett, AICP, Director of Business Operations for Herzot Transit Services, Inc.
• Monica Tellez-Fowler, President/CEO of the Central Ohio Transit Authority

Dig deeper:

During Tuesday's DART board meeting, a motion to delay the vote was brought up.

Board members cited a lack of time to properly vet each candidate, saying one finalist was only brought into the process last Friday.

The motion to delay failed by a 5 to 10 margin. DART Board Chairman Randall Bryant said the process for vetting candidates has been more thorough than in previous CEO searches.

Multiple board members referred to the candidate as a man. Of the three finalists, only Nathaniel Ford is a man.

Ford's tenure in Jacksonville has seen investigations into the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, or JTA.

In 2024, Florida's Office of the Inspector General looked into concerns about taxpayer funds being spent on extensive travel, including a $10,000 trip to Spain.

FOX 30 in Jacksonville reported that JTA records state half of Ford's time with the JTA has been spent outside the office traveling.

What they're saying:

"As Chairman, I'm committed to strengthening DART's governance, securing sustainable funding, and preserving the agency's future. Selecting a highly qualified leader is a critical step in delivering on that commitment," DART Board Chairman Randall Bryant said in a statement.

Other board members explained their hesitance to vote on a finalist during tonight's meeting.

"A candidate bypassed the process and became a finalist on Friday, July 10," Dough Hrbacek, a DART board member, said. "That's two business days ago. Two business days later, we are being asked to vote on that candidate."

"Since Friday, red flag after red flag after red flag has been uncovered and, as a board member, we should be able to have the appropriate amount of time to conduct due diligence and do research before we take a vote," Hrbacek continued.

DART CEO search

The backstory:

DART has been led by David Leninger as its Interim President & CEO since April. The company terminated outgoing CEO Nadine Lee's contract when the two sides could not come to a severance agreement.

Lee, who had led the transportation company since 2021, announced she would not seek to extend her contract in March.

She pointed to recent "political hurdles" for the service when examining her time with DART in an interview with FOX 4's Shaun Rabb.

"But at the broader level, we've encountered a lot of political hurdles, and that's one of the things that has distracted us from our mission, distracted us from moving faster at improving the quality of our services and things like that.

Hurdles included DART withdrawal elections held in Addison, Highland Park and University Park in May. Addison and University Park voted to stay in DART's service area, while Highland Park voted to leave.

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