Dallas Area Rapid Transit has chosen a veteran public transportation executive with decades of experience to lead the North Texas agency into its next chapter. The DART Board of Directors announced Tuesday that Nathaniel P. Ford Sr. has been selected as the agency’s next president and chief exe cutive officer. Ford will begin leading DART on Oct. 26. Ford has served as chief executive officer of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority in Florida since 2012. His career in public transportation began as a train operator and has included work at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York. He previously served as CEO of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency in California and the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority in Georgia. “Mr. Ford brings decades of executive leadership in public transportation, a proven record of organizational transformation, and a deep understanding that transit is about much more than buses and trains,” DART Board Chair Randall Bryant said. “Today, we are turning the page. The board has made its decision and now it’s time to get back to what matters most, serving the people of North Texas.” Ford has also held leadership roles in several transportation organizations. He has served as chair of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and chair of the American Public Transportation Association. His industry recognition includes being named the American Public Transportation Association’s Outstanding Public Transportation Manager in 2020. In 2016, Ford was recognized as a White House Champion of Change in Transportation by the U.S. Department of Transportation. That same year, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority received the association’s Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award. Ford holds an MBA from Jacksonville University’s Davis School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in applied science in organizational leadership from Mercer University. He is also a certified Master Executive Coach. He graduated from the Executive Development Consortium program at Emory University and completed executive training at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. ...read more read less