DART President and CEO candidate Nathaniel P. Ford Sr, speaks during a meet and greet, on Saturday, July 11, 2026 at Dallas Area Rapid Transit headquarters in Dallas.
Shafkat Anowar/The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s new CEO Nathaniel Ford arrives at the agency Monday, where he’s tasked with seeing through key compromises in governance, service and funding to keep the system from fracturing.
Questions over financial mismanagement and excessive spending at his prior job at Jacksonville Transportation Authority are coming with him.
Ford is named in a criminal investigation of the JTA by the Florida attorney general’s office and he has been asked to testify to Jacksonville council members in a separate inquiry about how the agency found itself $39 million in the red, with service cuts and up to about 200 layoffs.
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DART board chair Randall Bryant declined to comment and said Ford declined as well. Answering a question at a Dallas transportation committee meeting Oct. 19, Bryant said DART is in touch with legal teams in Florida and defended the agency’s hiring process.
Related: DART names Florida transit executive Nathaniel Ford CEO after divided board vote
“We have affirmed Nat Ford as our CEO, and we continue to do that,” Bryant told the committee.
One of the attorney general’s subpoenas asks JTA to provide documentation from between 2023 and 2025 of contracts for massage, consulting, design and mural services, tuition reimbursements, other payments and ridership reports. It also asks for texts and emails between Ford, his wife and the CEO of a consulting firm. The documents are due Oct. 30.
Ford takes over an agency that narrowly avoided losing several member cities in elections earlier this year after disputes over funding and how DART is governed. As DART’s board sought a CEO who could unify the agency after Nadine Lee stepped down in the spring, Ford’s hiring divided directors, with some questioning whether he had been sufficiently vetted.
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“Many red flags were uncovered during this broken process, and not just in Jacksonville,” Doug Hrbacek, who represents Carrollton and Irving on the DART board, wrote in a statement. “The investigation in Florida raises even more serious concerns.”
DART President and CEO candidate Nathaniel P. Ford Sr (left), interacts with crowd during a meet and greet, on Saturday, July 11, 2026 at Dallas Area Rapid Transit headquarters in Dallas.
Shafkat Anowar/The Dallas Morning News
DART’s board has asked Ford to take the helm starting Oct. 26. While some see red flags, others see a jump to conclusions.
“I don’t think Dallas has anything to worry about,” Jacksonville City Council member Rahman Johnson said. “Give him a chance.”
‘The best candidate’
During the application process, Ford withdrew from the candidate pool but later reentered at the request of some board members and rose to the top of DART’s list, said Enrique MacGregor, who represents Cockrell Hill and Dallas on DART’s board. Some of his colleagues took issue with the pace and process of Ford’s reentry, but others emphasized his impressive resume.
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“He, by far, was the best candidate,” MacGregor said. “I was blown away.”
Ford has over three decades of experience in transportation, including more than two decades as a CEO, particularly at large transit agencies in conservative-leaning states like Florida and Georgia. The probe in Jacksonville hasn’t changed MacGregor’s opinion.
Related: DART’s apparent CEO pick brings decades of experience — and scrutiny at past agencies
“The fact that somebody initiates an investigation does not mean that there’s inherently a problem,” MacGregor said, adding it’s possible investigations into Ford have political motivations.
There are answers to questions about Ford’s past, MacGregor said: He has job duties that require travel, and it’s not out of the ordinary to purchase massage services for employees or reimburse tuition.
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MacGregor said he was satisfied with Ford’s responses to board questions and with DART’s procedures to avoid conflicts of interest or excessive travel.
‘Demonstrably worse’
In Florida, Jacksonville City Council member Rory Diamond said the situation is dire. Jacksonville’s transportation system has become “demonstrably worse” under Ford’s leadership, he said.
Diamond, the council’s liaison to JTA, said he believes Ford to be a good person, but the layoffs, deficit and service cuts require a closer look.
DART President and CEO candidate Nathaniel P. Ford Sr, speaks during a meet and greet, on Saturday, July 11, 2026 at Dallas Area Rapid Transit headquarters in Dallas.
Shafkat Anowar/The Dallas Morning News
“We just want to ask questions,” Diamond said. “The city is having to patch the holes in their finances with taxpayer dollars.”
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Starting two years ago, Diamond said the agency burned through its cash reserves. He said there were expenses that appeared extravagant, like travel and generous tuition reimbursements for executives, “essentially spreading money around when they didn’t have it.”
Meanwhile, JTA was pursuing an ambitious autonomous vehicle program, which Diamond called “a boondoggle from the beginning.”
Last year, a former JTA board member called for a closer look into the agency’s sponsorships and alleged there were discrepancies in ridership numbers, data that can determine federal funding.
Questions also have been raised about contracts with WSP, the consulting firm where Ford’s wife is an executive. Johnson, the Jacksonville council member, said legal counsel determined there was no conflict of interest. DART also works with WSP.
‘Political theater’
Johnson was the only member of the finance committee in Jacksonville who voted against subpoenaing Ford, according to the Florida Times-Union, and said the council did not give Ford enough time to voluntarily answer the council’s questions.
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Related: Here’s what DART is looking for in its next CEO at a ‘pivotal moment’ for transit
He said it’s not all on Ford — he has questions for other executives at JTA, too.
“To rush to a subpoena seemed to be political theater,” he said.
Johnson said rising costs, especially for gas, have financially impacted the agency.
“I don’t think there was nefarious activity going on,” Johnson said. “It was a perfect storm for some of these issues to come about.”
Ford announced his resignation in July after more than 13 years with JTA. By the end of the month, he was hired in Dallas. He remains under subpoena by Jacksonville city leaders, who expect he will comply with their request to testify at a later date.
Ford’s employment agreement with DART includes an initial three-year term with a base salary of $515,000 and $80,000 for relocation and travel in his first pay period. Several board members voted against the contract. Records reviewed by The Dallas Morning News show he desired a base salary of $530,000.
JTA pays its CEO $487,904 in total compensation a year, according to its website. Ford retained CEO-level pay in an advisory role to the interim chief through his last day, Oct. 21, according to the Times-Union.