Barclay is a controversial figure in the realm of Chicago transportation politics, viewed by some as a member of the old guard in a world where lawmakers have ordered change. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson this summer appointed him<\/a> to both the new CTA board and to the board of the Northern Illinois Transit Authority \u2014 the governing body that is supposed to act as a more powerful and less broke<\/a> version of the Regional Transportation Authority, which will go kaput on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Barclay faced heat<\/a> during his appointment process this summer from advocates who slammed his past criticism of transit reform, his leadership under former, embattled CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. and his ridership on the CTA, which has been less frequent than they\u2019d like. He ultimately got himself through a City Council gauntlet and onto both the CTA and NITA boards, although his confirmation vote was split.\u00a0<\/p>\n But when it comes to who serves as chair of the new CTA board, some advocates want to see new leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe mandate of the (transit reform legislation) is to start new, is to turn a new page and build the kind of transit system that riders want and that Chicagoans deserve,\u201d said Kyle Lucas of the group Better Streets Chicago, a transit advocacy organization that slammed Barclay\u2019s appointment to the NITA board earlier this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re maintaining existing leadership, I think that they need to prove that they\u2019re prepared and willing to take us to the next level,\u201d Lucas said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, who voted against Barclay\u2019s appointment last month, echoed that sentiment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve made a decision in Chicago and the entire state to chart a new course,\u201d Martin told the Tribune this week.<\/p>\n \u201cI do think that new leadership is needed,\u201d Martin added. \u201cAgain, someone who has real expertise in transportation as well as someone who can stitch together a coalition of activists and experts to help chart that course for Chicago.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Juan Sebastian Arias, the executive director of transit-oriented development group Elevated Chicago, said he did \u201csee some value in having the next CTA board chair have some experience, and some knowledge of how the CTA operates.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI also see a lot of value in someone who can bring a new vision and new approach to match the opportunity that\u2019s ahead,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The new CTA board will be less powerful than it was before state-mandated reforms that require increased oversight by NITA, but the board will still have influence over the CTA\u2019s operations, and some say over the appointment of a president for the agency, which has been under interim leadership for a year and a half. The board members will earn salaries between $15,000 and $25,000 depending on whether they serve just on the CTA board or on the NITA board too.\u00a0<\/p>\n The other incoming CTA board members include returning members Michael Eaddy and Neema Jha as well as nonprofit executive Nedra Sims Fears and Columbia College Associate Vice President Ann Kalayil. They\u2019ll be joined by RTA board members Oswaldo Alvarez and Tom Kotarac, the latter of whom has emerged as a key figure in the NITA transition, presiding over transition committee meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n The next chair of the Chicago Transit Board will be selected by the majority of the board and must be approved by the Illinois Senate. The chair will be selected after the more powerful NITA board selects its own leader, which is expected to happen Sept. 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n State Sen. Ram Villivalam, a Chicago Democrat and key architect of the transit reform legislation, said he hadn\u2019t been pitched by anyone hoping to become chair of either the CTA or NITA boards.\u00a0<\/p>\n Villivalam said lawmakers \u201chave made it clear that we\u2019re looking for leadership that will hold the agencies accountable to providing safe, reliable, accessible and integrated\u201d transit service.\u00a0<\/p>\n Barclay, whom transit advocates have repeatedly hammered for riding the CTA infrequently, invited the Tribune to ride the Green Line last week on the city\u2019s South Side, including through the Englewood neighborhood where he grew up. Barclay, a family law attorney by trade and the consul of Jamaica in Chicago, cast himself as a supporter of development near public transit, pointing out vacant lots that abutted the train\u2019s route. \u201cWhen I was a kid,\u201d he said, \u201call this was commerce.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Barclay maintained he\u2019s on board with transit reform despite a Tribune op-ed he wrote last fall in which he questioned the increased power<\/a> NITA officials have over CTA decision-making. \u201cThis funding victory comes with a price for the city of Chicago and the CTA,\u201d he wrote at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI love the fact that we\u2019re talking about regional coordination. I think that\u2019s good for the citizens of our city and this region,\u201d Barclay told the Tribune this month. \u201cBut I expressed concerns about how we were going to go about that.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked whether he was concerned about the suburbs and collar counties having too much of a say over issues affecting the CTA, Barclay said that \u201cremains to be seen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n During the appointment process, activists hammered Barclay for riding the CTA infrequently. Transit advocate Nik Hunder, who files public records requests for ridership numbers on CTA employee and board members\u2019 company Ventra cards, fired at Barclay during the public comment portion of one appointment hearing, saying Barclay swiped onto the system only 49 times last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Northern](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CTC-L-NITA-APPOINTMENTS-06_264751473.jpg\")
Northern Illinois Transit Authority and Chicago Transit Authority appointee Lester Barclay, the CTA board’s current chairman, answers questions about transparency from committee vice chair Ald. Andre Vasquez Jr., 40th, during a Transportation and Public Way Committee meeting in council chambers on July 14, 2026. (Eileen T. Meslar\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CTC-L-RTA-AD-HOC15_266007355.jpg\")
Tom Kotarac, center, of the Regional Transportation Authority Board, speaks, Aug. 26, 2026, during an RTA Ad Hoc Committee on NITA Transition meeting at the Old Post Office. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
![\"Lester](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CTC-L-RTA-AD-HOC03_266007327.jpg\")
Lester Barclay, Chicago Transit Board chairman, and Nora Leerhsen, CTA acting president, listen Aug. 26, 2026, during a meeting of the RTA Ad Hoc Committee on NITA Transition at the Old Post Office. (Brian Cassella\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n