DuPage executive named for Metra board

DuPage County’s new delegate to the troubled Metra board is an Elmhurst businessman.

DuPage Chairman Dan Cronin’s appointment of Paul Darley as a Metra director is expected to be confirmed by the county board Tuesday.

Darley, 48, is chief executive officer of W.S. Darley & Co., an Itasca-based firefighting equipment and apparatus supplier.

He will replace outgoing Chairman Carole Doris who announced her resignation this month. Doris and the rest of the board weathered turbulence at Metra following the suicide of former Executive Director Phil Pagano last May amid a misconduct investigation.

It was later found Pagano received at least $475,000 in unauthorized vacation pay and authorized other financial irregularities. Metra directors have instituted a number of reforms in the wake of the scandal but also have been targeted by state lawmakers seeking their resignations.

Darley received a master’s degree in business administration from Northwestern University.

Metra directors are paid a stipend of $15,000 a year.