Now’s Your Chance To Tell RTD Who Should Run It

Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
The RTD bus stop on Colfax Avenue at Broadway, March 28, 2019.

The Regional Transportation District’s board of directors is scheduled to make its final selection for the agency's new leader next Tuesday.

The chosen candidate will become the first female general manager and CEO in the agency’s history, taking over for Paul Ballard, who took the job on an interim basis earlier this year.

She’ll take the helm of an organization facing a steep drop in revenue and ridership as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, all while key politicians are keeping pressure on the agency to deliver on costly projects including a $1.5 billion train line to Boulder and Longmont.

Before the board decides, it wants public input by this Sunday, via a survey in English or Spanish.

The three finalists each prepared a video outlining their visions for the organization. 

“We think these presentations will allow the public to see firsthand the perspectives and qualities that have advanced each of these fine women to this point in this important process,” Board Chair Angie Rivera-Malpiede said in a press release.


Debra Johnson, deputy CEO at Long Beach Transit in Long Beach, California

Adelee Le Grand, former executive at the Atlanta‐region Transit Link Authority and the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority

Tina Quigley, former CEO for the Las Vegas-area Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada