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DART President and CEO candidate Nathaniel P. Ford Sr, speaks during a meet and greet, on Saturday, July 11, 2026 at Dallas Area Rapid Transit headquarters in Dallas.<\/p>\n
Shafkat Anowar\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Dallas Area Rapid Transit\u2019s new CEO Nathaniel Ford<\/a> arrives at the agency Monday, where he\u2019s tasked with seeing through key compromises in governance, service and funding to keep the system from fracturing.<\/p>\n Questions over financial mismanagement and excessive spending<\/a> at his prior job at Jacksonville Transportation Authority are coming with him.<\/p>\n Ford is named in a criminal investigation of the JTA by the Florida attorney general\u2019s office and he has been asked to testify to Jacksonville council members in a separate inquiry about how the agency found itself $39 million in the red, with service cuts and up to about 200 layoffs. \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n DART board chair Randall Bryant declined to comment and said Ford declined as well. Answering a question at a Dallas transportation committee meeting Oct. 19, Bryant said DART is in touch with legal teams in Florida and defended the agency\u2019s hiring process<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Related: DART names Florida transit executive Nathaniel Ford CEO after divided board vote<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe have affirmed Nat Ford as our CEO, and we continue to do that,\u201d Bryant told the committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of the attorney general\u2019s subpoenas asks JTA to provide documentation from between 2023 and 2025 of contracts for massage, consulting, design and mural services, tuition reimbursements, other payments and ridership reports. It also asks for texts and emails between Ford, his wife and the CEO of a consulting firm. The documents are due Oct. 30.<\/p>\n Ford takes over an agency that narrowly avoided losing<\/a> several member cities in elections earlier this year after disputes over funding and how DART is governed. As DART\u2019s board sought a CEO who could unify the agency<\/a> after Nadine Lee stepped down in the spring, Ford\u2019s hiring divided directors, with some questioning whether he had been sufficiently vetted.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cMany red flags were uncovered during this broken process<\/a>, and not just in Jacksonville,\u201d Doug Hrbacek, who represents Carrollton and Irving on the DART board, wrote in a statement. \u201cThe investigation in Florida raises even more serious concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n DART President and CEO candidate Nathaniel P. Ford Sr (left), interacts with crowd during a meet and greet, on Saturday, July 11, 2026 at Dallas Area Rapid Transit headquarters in Dallas.<\/p>\n Shafkat Anowar\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n DART\u2019s board has asked Ford to take the helm starting Oct. 26. While some see red flags, others see a jump to conclusions.<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t think Dallas has anything to worry about,\u201d Jacksonville City Council member Rahman Johnson said. \u201cGive him a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘The best candidate’<\/p>\n During the application process, Ford withdrew from the candidate pool but later reentered at the request of some board members and rose to the top of DART\u2019s list, said Enrique MacGregor, who represents Cockrell Hill and Dallas on DART\u2019s board. Some of his colleagues took issue with the pace and process of Ford\u2019s reentry, but others emphasized his impressive resume.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cHe, by far, was the best candidate,\u201d MacGregor said. \u201cI was blown away.\u201d<\/p>\n Ford has over three decades of experience in transportation, including more than two decades as a CEO, particularly at large transit agencies in conservative-leaning states like Florida and Georgia. The probe in Jacksonville hasn\u2019t changed MacGregor\u2019s opinion.<\/p>\n Related: DART\u2019s apparent CEO pick brings decades of experience \u2014 and scrutiny at past agencies<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that somebody initiates an investigation does not mean that there’s inherently a problem,\u201d MacGregor said, adding it\u2019s possible investigations into Ford have political motivations.<\/p>\n There are answers to questions about Ford\u2019s past, MacGregor said: He has job duties that require travel, and it\u2019s not out of the ordinary to purchase massage services for employees or reimburse tuition.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n MacGregor said he was satisfied with Ford\u2019s responses to board questions and with DART\u2019s procedures to avoid conflicts of interest or excessive travel.<\/p>\n ‘Demonstrably worse’<\/p>\n In Florida, Jacksonville City Council member Rory Diamond said the situation is dire. Jacksonville\u2019s transportation system has become \u201cdemonstrably worse\u201d under Ford\u2019s leadership, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Diamond, the council\u2019s liaison to JTA, said he believes Ford to be a good person, but the layoffs, deficit and service cuts require a closer look.<\/p>\n DART President and CEO candidate Nathaniel P. Ford Sr, speaks during a meet and greet, on Saturday, July 11, 2026 at Dallas Area Rapid Transit headquarters in Dallas.<\/p>\n Shafkat Anowar\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n \u201cWe just want to ask questions,\u201d Diamond said. \u201cThe city is having to patch the holes in their finances with taxpayer dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Starting two years ago, Diamond said the agency burned through its cash reserves. He said there were expenses that appeared extravagant, like travel and generous tuition reimbursements for executives, \u201cessentially spreading money around when they didn\u2019t have it.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, JTA was pursuing an ambitious autonomous vehicle program, which Diamond called \u201ca boondoggle from the beginning.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year, a former JTA board member called for a closer look into the agency\u2019s sponsorships and alleged there were discrepancies in ridership numbers, data that can determine federal funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n Questions also have been raised about contracts with WSP, the consulting firm where Ford\u2019s wife is an executive. Johnson, the Jacksonville council member, said legal counsel determined there was no conflict of interest. DART also works with WSP.\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘Political theater’<\/p>\n Johnson was the only member of the finance committee in Jacksonville who voted against subpoenaing Ford, according to the Florida Times-Union, and said the council did not give Ford enough time to voluntarily answer the council\u2019s questions.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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