Organizational Overview
The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is an independent governmental agency created by the Metropolitan Transit Authority Act (70-ILCS-3605).
CTA began operating on Oct. 1, 1947, after it acquired the properties of the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the Chicago Surface Lines. On Oct. 1, 1952, CTA became the predominant operator of Chicago transit when it purchased the Chicago Motor Coach system.
Governance & Oversight
The governing arm of CTA is the Chicago Transit Board. Lester L. Barclay serves as Chairman. The board consists of seven members, four appointed by the Mayor of Chicago and three by the Governor of Illinois.
The Chicago Mayor's appointees are subject to the approval of the Governor and the Chicago City Council; the Governor's appointees are subject to the approval of the Mayor of Chicago and the Illinois State Senate. CTA's day-to-day operations are directed by Nora Leerhsen, Acting President of the CTA.
CTA generates revenue from both farebox collections and non-farebox revenues and also receives supplemental funding for operating expenses from the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA).
The RTA was established in 1974 to oversee local transportation operators in the six-county Chicago metropolitan area. Illinois state law requires the three RTA service boards—CTA, Metra (the suburban rail system) and Pace (the suburban bus system) to recover collectively at least 50 percent of operating costs from farebox and other system revenues.
Nora Leerhsen
Acting President, Chicago Transit Authority
Nora Leerhsen is the acting president of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), one of the nation’s largest public transit agencies, providing approximately one million rides daily and serving the City of Chicago and over 30 surrounding suburbs. Nora joined the CTA in 2014 and is an 11-year public transit veteran. She is the first woman to lead the CTA in the agency’s history.
Under Nora’s leadership, she has refocused CTA to concentrate on the core principles of being people-driven, performance-focused, centered in welcoming places and rooted in dynamic partnerships. Nora leads her agency during a historic time and is instituting a new focus by reimagining the role that her agency plays within the Chicago region.
Following her appointment as acting president in February 2025, Nora immediately began to reshape the agency’s approach to engaging with elected officials, employees and CTA riders.
She has implemented service improvements, including the Frequent Network, which added service along 20 bus routes to ensure 10-minute or better scheduled service and will provide the highest levels of scheduled bus service since 2010.
She has worked closely with the Chicago Police Department to implement an enhanced, targeted approach to issues most important to riders—an approach rooted in more rigorous data review of information provided by customers when reporting various issues. These initiatives include anti-smoking missions on CTA vehicles and expanded security along the system’s busiest rail line, among other targeted deployments.
During her career at CTA, Nora has overseen all aspects of CTA’s operations, including service delivery, capital planning, hiring, employee programming, and legal and communications strategy. She was also a key agency leader during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery, including spearheading the establishment of CTA’s on-site employee vaccination program.
Nora began her 20-year career in public service as a public school teacher in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as a part of the Teach For America program. After moving to Chicago, she continued to teach in the public schools and also worked as a college counselor prior to attending law school.
Nora holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a master’s degree in social science from the University of Chicago, a master’s degree in education from Chestnut Hill College, and a bachelor’s degree from The George Washington University.
Organizational Chart
View Administrative Org. Chart (.pdf)
See also