{"id":935878,"date":"2026-07-15T05:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T05:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/935878\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T05:09:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T05:09:29","slug":"dart-selects-doesnt-publicly-reveal-ceo-finalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/935878\/","title":{"rendered":"DART selects, doesn&#8217;t publicly reveal CEO finalist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\"><strong>DALLAS<\/strong> &#8211; DART board members have selected a finalist to be their next CEO, but won&#8217;t reveal who exactly it is until next week.<\/p>\n<p> DART selects new CEO   <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KDFW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Dallas Area Rapid Transit board members voted nine to six to select a finalist for their vacant President &amp; CEO position.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The vote came during a Tuesday board meeting.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KDFW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What we don&#8217;t know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">DART did not publicly name which of the three finalists for the position they selected as their CEO finalist.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">The company plans on announcing the candidate on July 21 following the completion of the employment process.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Three finalists were named for the position last Friday. They are:<\/p>\n<ul original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KDFW\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\">Nathaniel P. Ford Sr., CEO of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\">Dee Leggett, AICP, Director of Business Operations for Herzot Transit Services, Inc.<\/li>\n<li class=\"article-ct\" data-v-03e8ff79=\"\">Monica Tellez-Fowler, President\/CEO of the Central Ohio Transit Authority<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784092165_187_v-dart-ceo-candidate-photo_00.00.00.00.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" width=\"932\" height=\"524\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/>  <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KDFW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">Dig deeper:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">During Tuesday&#8217;s DART board meeting, a motion to delay the vote was brought up.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Board members cited a lack of time to properly vet each candidate, saying one finalist was only brought into the process last Friday.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">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.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Multiple board members referred to the candidate as a man. Of the three finalists, only Nathaniel Ford is a man.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-2243288504.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" width=\"932\" height=\"524\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\">DALLAS, TEXAS &#8211; OCTOBER 24: A general view of a train at the Cypress Waters Station during the DART Silver Line Opening Ceremony on October 24, 2025 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern\/Getty Images for Dallas Area Rapid Transit) <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Ford&#8217;s tenure in Jacksonville has seen investigations into the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, or JTA.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">In 2024, Florida&#8217;s Office of the Inspector General looked into concerns about taxpayer funds being spent on extensive travel, including a $10,000 trip to Spain.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">FOX 30 in Jacksonville reported that JTA records state half of Ford&#8217;s time with the JTA has been spent outside the office traveling.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KDFW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">&#8220;As Chairman, I&#8217;m committed to strengthening DART&#8217;s governance, securing sustainable funding, and preserving the agency&#8217;s future. Selecting a highly qualified leader is a critical step in delivering on that commitment,&#8221; DART Board Chairman Randall Bryant said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Other board members explained their hesitance to vote on a finalist during tonight&#8217;s meeting.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">&#8220;A candidate bypassed the process and became a finalist on Friday, July 10,&#8221; Dough Hrbacek, a DART board member, said. &#8220;That&#8217;s two business days ago. Two business days later, we are being asked to vote on that candidate.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">&#8220;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,&#8221; Hrbacek continued.<\/p>\n<p> DART CEO search <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KDFW\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-94395e58=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">DART has been led by David Leninger as its Interim President &amp; CEO since April. The company terminated outgoing CEO Nadine Lee&#8217;s contract when the two sides could not come to a severance agreement.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Lee, who had led the transportation company since 2021, announced she would not seek to extend her contract in March.<\/p>\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/r2pja65gkiopqdfd.jpg\" alt=\"PREVIOUS COVERAGE: DART's first female CEO explains decision to leave\" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-892ef6a8=\"\"\/>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/r2pja65gkiopqdfd.jpg\" alt=\"PREVIOUS COVERAGE: DART's first female CEO explains decision to leave\" loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" class=\"vod-poster-image\" data-v-6546b402=\"\"\/>   <\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">She pointed to recent &#8220;political hurdles&#8221; for the service when examining her time with DART in an interview with FOX 4&#8217;s Shaun Rabb.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">&#8220;But at the broader level, we&#8217;ve encountered a lot of political hurdles, and that&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p data-v-94395e58=\"\">Hurdles included DART withdrawal elections held in Addison, Highland Park and University Park in May. Addison and University Park voted to stay in DART&#8217;s service area, while Highland Park voted to leave.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\"><b data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source:<\/b> Information in this story comes from a DART board meeting.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox4news.com\/tag\/organization\/dart\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dallas Area Rapid Transit<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox4news.com\/tag\/us\/tx\/dallas-county\/dallas\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-94395e58=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dallas<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS &#8211; DART board members have selected a finalist to be their next CEO, but won&#8217;t reveal who&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":516457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,7290,40460,50,12632,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-935878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-america","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-county","tag-dart","tag-news","tag-organization","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116922270990561318","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=935878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}