Dorval Carter

Dorval Carter

Dorval R. Carter, Jr. is President of the Chicago Transit Authority, the nation’s second-largest transit agency, providing more than 500 million rides annually and serving Chicago and 35 suburbs.

Prior to becoming CTA President in 2015, Carter served as the U.S. Department of Transportation Acting Chief of Staff to Secretary Anthony Foxx. Carter helped manage a Department with more than 55,000 employees and a $70 billion budget that oversees air, maritime and surface transportation while working to ensure that America maintains the safest, most efficient transportation system in the world. 

Carter previously served as Acting Deputy Administrator for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), leading a staff of more than 500 in the Washington D.C. headquarters office and 10 regional offices throughout the United States, and implementing an annual budget approximating $10 billion.  Before that, Carter served as the FTA’s Chief Counsel, where he advised the FTA Administrator and his Executive team on a broad range of legal issues including appropriations, emergency operations, procurement, grants, ethics, personal and real property, labor protection, innovative finance, personnel, legislation, regulations, and litigation.  He also provided support to the Department of Transportation’s General Counsel on legal matters concerning the federal transit program. During his time as a political appointee, Mr. Carter also served on the President’s U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Interagency Task Force for Support of Military Families. 

Before rejoining FTA as its Chief Counsel, he served for nine years as the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of the CTA, including serving as its Acting President.  From 1998 to 2000 he was FTA’s Assistant Chief Counsel for Legislation and Regulations, and from 1991 to 1998 he was FTA’s Regional Counsel in Region 5-Chicago.  He began his legal career with the CTA, where he held various positions including staff attorney, legal assistant to the General Attorney, Acting General Attorney, and Deputy General Attorney for Corporate Law

Carter is a member of the Transportation Research Board’s National Research Council and Chair of the TRB’s Committee on Transit and Intermodal Transportation Law.  He is a Senior Fellow from the Council for Excellence in Government Fellows Program and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors for Saint Anthony Hospital.  A graduate of Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he is a member 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.