And now, there’s 15 — Preckwinkle explains NITA choices as new transit board coalesces

Fresh faces will predominate at the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority, with a majority of members slated as of this week.

They include five chosen by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and approved by commissioners Thursday.

“I thought it was important to bring a variety of perspectives and experience to the board that would be useful in their deliberations and efforts to implement a single cohesive system instead of a siloed one we have now,” Preckwinkle told the Daily Herald.

Gov. JB Pritzker has yet to announce his five choices for the 20-member board that will oversee Metra, Pace and the CTA. NITA will replace the Regional Transportation Authority starting Sept. 1 as a result of transit reform legislation passed in 2025.

Preckwinkle’s NITA appointments comprise: Metra Director Romayne Brown of Dolton, a former Metra chair and CTA manager; Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins, an attorney; Chicagoan and RTA Director Thomas Kotarac, also senior vice president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago; Luis Montgomery of Arlington Heights, a civil engineering and transportation executive; and Diane Williams of Orland Park, an economic development and criminal justice leader.

Preckwinkle said she sought “folks with broad expertise and interests.”

“The NITA board has a pretty steep mountain to climb. And it seems to me that people with the expertise and the energy that I nominated were the right fit for that.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also had five NITA picks, who were confirmed Wednesday. The DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will county chairs have one appointment each, all of whom have been finalized.

Of the 15 incoming NITA directors, just five will transfer from the RTA, including Kotarac and three additional Chicago directors plus McHenry County’s Brian Sager.

But several other NITA newcomers are already on transit boards such as Brown, Metra Director Gary Gordon of Lake County, Bolingbrook Mayor and Pace Director John Noak, and CTA Chair Lester Barclay.

Previously, four RTA directors were chosen by suburban Cook County Board members and the fifth by the board president.

Current RTA directors representing Cook County — William Coulson, Elizabeth Gorman, Michael Lewis, Erika Walker and Lara Sanoica, Rolling Meadows mayor — were not on Preckwinkle’s list.

“There are inevitably going to be some changes,” Preckwinkle said. “I know both the mayor and the governor are appointing people who haven’t previously served on any of the service boards or the RTA.”

One burning question is who will lead the NITA board, which will be blessed with unprecedented power over the three transit agencies and an influx of millions from state gas and sales taxes.

“That’s up for the board to decide,” Preckwinkle said.

“I think it’s the obligation of whoever is determined to be the chair to make sure that it’s a well-functioning body,” she noted. “I’m hopeful that a strong person with lots of time will be chosen to lead the organization and bring people together to do their work effectively.”

Regarding her priorities for NITA, Preckwinkle said, “I hope they make progress on the universal fare card. We want a system that the riders find easy to use, and when we don’t have the universal fare card, that’s a challenge.”

“This is transformative legislation and you can’t have a strong region without a great public transit system,” she added. “It’s the foundation of economic development.”

Along with NITA duties starting in September, Brown and Williams will serve on Metra, Hoskins and Montgomery will go to Pace, and Kotarac joins the CTA board.