Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle proposes new transit board members

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is offering the first glimpse at the potential new Chicago Transit Authority board members who are likely to help guide the agency through the new paradigm created by the state’s landmark transit reform legislation.

Preckwinkle sent the list of her proposed new transit board appointees — who must be approved by the Cook County Board — to county commissioners in a letter dated Tuesday. Preckwinkle’s list also includes proposed appointees to the new Metra and Pace boards.

Most of the new potential new board members would serve concurrently on the board of the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, the new oversight body created by the state’s transit legislation, which took effect June 1. NITA, as it is called, is expected to act as a more powerful version of the Regional Transportation Authority, which will become officially defunct Sept. 1.

The transit law — which is expected to raise more than $1 billion in new funding for public transit each year — requires a major shake-up of the boards that govern the CTA, Metra and Pace. The terms of all current transit board members expire Sept. 1, when new board members are expected to take over.

Under the new setup, Preckwinkle gets to appoint two CTA board members — a change from the past, when all CTA directors were appointed either by the Chicago mayor or the governor. Under the new paradigm, the governor also gets two picks on the CTA board, while the mayor gets three. The new board structure dilutes the mayor’s power over the board, which has the ultimate say over approving executive leadership for the agency.

In a statement provided by a spokesperson, Preckwinkle said the proposed appointees “reflect the geographic, professional and demographic diversity of Cook County and bring deep expertise” in an array of fields, including public transit, infrastructure, urban planning, financial management and engineering.

“Over the coming weeks, I look forward to discussing these nominees with members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners,” Preckwinkle said. “Following those conversations, I will present a final slate of candidates to the Board's Legislation and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee for consideration on July 15.”

Preckwinkle’s proposed CTA appointees are Tom Kotarac, a current member of the Regional Transportation Authority board, and Ann Kalayil, associate vice president of facilities and construction at Columbia College Chicago and the former bureau chief of asset management for the county.

If approved, Kotarac — who was appointed to the RTA board by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson — would serve on both the CTA board and the NITA board for three years. Kalayil would serve only on the CTA’s board for her five-year term.

Kotarac has served on the RTA board since fall 2024. He leads the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago’s transportation work and previously worked at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning as well as for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. Preckwinkle called him a “senior transportation and infrastructure strategist with more than two decades of experience shaping major regional and federal policy initiatives.”

Kalayil, the former head of the county department that manages real estate, facilities and capital planning, has helped head up facilities management at Columbia College Chicago since 2020. Preckwinkle said she “brings extensive governance experience.”

Before her time at the county, she headed up the Great Lakes Region for the U.S. General Services Administration during the final six years of the Obama administration. She’s served on several boards, including for the state’s medical district and Northeastern Illinois University, according to her LinkedIn.

Preckwinkle’s proposed Metra appointees are Diane Williams, Romayne Brown and Joe Szabo. Williams and Brown would serve on both the Metra and NITA boards while Szabo would serve only on the commuter rail board.

Brown is a current Metra board member whom Preckwinkle first appointed in 2013. She chaired the Metra board between 2020 and 2024 and previously worked for three decades at the CTA, where she served as the agency’s vice president of rail operations, among other roles, according to her Metra biography.

Williams, the former CEO of the Safer Foundation, which provides job training and placement to people with criminal records, also has county ties. She was leader of the Southland Development Authority, a nonprofit that received county funding to help south suburban businesses during the pandemic.

She’s also allied with Preckwinkle on her early criminal justice efforts. Preckwinkle said she “brings deep expertise in nonprofit leadership, workforce development and criminal justice policy.”

Szabo is a former administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration whom Preckwinkle called a “nationally recognized transportation leader.”

Preckwinkle’s proposed picks for suburban bus agency Pace include Luis Montgomery, whom Preckwinkle said “leads national transportation market development for a major infrastructure consultancy.”

Her other Pace picks are both suburban mayors: Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins and Phoenix Mayor Terry Wells, who is a current member of the Pace board.

Hoskins, the first Black mayor of Forest Park, was appointed to the Pace and NITA boards for the West suburban spot. As mayor and “an attorney supporting state insurance regulation, he has led major intergovernmental initiatives and made meaningful contributions to regional public-policy efforts,” the letter said.

His village is home to the Blue Line’s western terminus and rail yard. He previously told the Forest Park Review the village spends about $1 million a year responding to public safety calls at the station, and reimbursements for that service were a priority for the village during NITA negotiations.

Preckwinkle, along with Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, get to appoint the bulk of the NITA board members. They each get five appointments on the NITA board, while collar county chairs get one apiece.

Neither the mayor nor the governor have announced their new transit board picks yet. The Daily Herald reported Sunday that most of the collar counties have made their NITA board choices already.