By Randall Bryant, DART Board Chair

Leaders in every profession know that good talent is hard to find and great talent is almost impossible. Nathaniel “Nat” Ford, Sr., the incoming President & CEO of Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is a great talent.

Ford began his four-decade career in public transit as a train conductor for Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York, our nation’s largest transit system. He then worked his way up to Superintendent of Operations at MTA before joining Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). He later became CEO of Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), followed by CEO of San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency (SFMTA).

For the past 13 years, Ford has served as CEO of Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA). In total, he’s led agencies with as many as 8,000 employees, managed billions of dollars in capital projects, and overseen nearly every mode of transportation including: bus, rail, paratransit, microtransit, people movers, taxis, road construction, ferry, parking, traffic management, and bike lane operations.

While a resume can tell you someone’s work history, and an interview can give more insight, a decision of this magnitude requires a deeper understanding. For me, that understanding of Ford came from conversations I had with the current and previous mayors of Jacksonville, as well as the current and two previous board chairs of JTA. The fact that these leaders took my call spoke volumes. At that point, Ford was already one foot out the door in Jacksonville. In my opinion, they owed him nothing. I soon found out that they all believed they owed him everything.

“I hope Dallas is fortunate enough to get him”, current Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan told to me as we ended our conversation.

We also discussed concerns that had been raised publicly during our search, particularly Ford’s travel expenditures. Their message was consistent: his travel was approved, complied with board policy, and was viewed as an investment, not an unnecessary expense. One board chair even told me they encouraged Ford to travel, an unexpected response given the level of criticism we were all seeing.

Before Ford’s tenure, JTA had secured very little in federal funding. Under his leadership, they won nearly $400 million in federal grants. That doesn’t just happen by submitting applications and hoping for favorable outcomes. That is accomplished by visiting decision makers and selling the value of your projects. For transit agencies, every federal dollar awarded is a local dollar that can instead be invested elsewhere like adding new routes or increasing frequencies.

Ford’s international travel was also instrumental in bringing the city of Jacksonville our country’s first mid-size passenger autonomous vehicle manufacturing plant in HOLON. This planned 500,000 sq. ft. facility is projected to create more than 800 jobs and generate approximately $87 million in annual economic impact to Jacksonville, according to the University of North Florida.

While some may not agree with those travel costs or value its ROI, the leaders in Jacksonville did. As board chair of DART, it’s not my role to second-guess a peer agency’s prioritization of expenditures, nor criticize an executive who operated within those set policies or board directives.

What impressed me most about Ford, however, was not a grant award nor decades
worth of public service.

Ford’s application included support letters from nearly a half dozen current transit CEO’s who had previously worked under his leadership. At DART, our employee survey results over the past three years have reflected declining trust in our organizational leadership. Having a CEO that knows how to do the job and inspire confidence to develop talent is paramount for our agency right now.

After months of reviewing candidates, conducting interviews, and speaking with references, I concluded that Nat Ford was the right leader to guide DART into its next chapter.

This CEO search was the longest and most transparent hiring process in DART’s history. We reviewed the job description with our member cities prior to its posting, announced a finalist list, and had those finalists meet with our riders and stakeholders publicly, as well as our mayors, managers, and both union organizations privately prior to taking the final vote. These unprecedented steps were taken to make the process as open and inclusive as possible.

The Board’s longstanding practice of naming and approving “Candidate A” before the final announcement is a procedure that has been used at DART for decades. Not only for the CEO, but for all board level appointments including General Counsel, Chief Audit Officer and Board Administrator. While some may criticize that policy, it does not take away from the overall greater process implemented, nor the great talent DART was fortunate enough to get in Nat Ford.

Randall Bryant is the chair of the DART Board of Directors.

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