Dorval Ronald Carter, Jr.
Acting Chief of Staff
Dorval Ronald Carter, Jr. is currently the US Department of Transportation Acting Chief of Staff. He serves as a senior adviser to Secretary Anthony Foxx. Dorval helps to manage a Department with more than 55,000 employees and a $70 billion budget that oversees air, maritime and surface transportation while working to ensure that America maintains the safest, most efficient transportation system in the world.
Previously he was the Acting Deputy Administrator for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), As Deputy he assisted the Administrator in leading a staff of more than 500 in the Washington D.C. headquarters office and 10 regional offices throughout the United States, and implementing an annual budget approximating $10 billion. He was originally sworn in as the Federal Transit Administration’s 14th Chief Counsel on November 2, 2009. As the FTA’s chief legal officer, he advised the FTA Administrator and his Executive team on a broad range of legal issues including appropriations, emergency operations, procurement, grants, ethics, personal and real property, labor protection, innovative finance, personnel, legislation, regulations, and litigation. He also coordinates with and provides support to the Department of Transportation’s General Counsel on legal matters concerning the federal transit program
Before rejoining FTA as its Chief Counsel, he served for nine years as the Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of the Chicago Transit Authority, including serving as its Acting President. From 1998 to 2000 he was FTA’s Assistant Chief Counsel for Legislation and Regulations, and from 1991 to 1998 he was FTA’s Regional Counsel in Region 5-Chicago. He began his legal career with the CTA, where he held various positions including staff attorney, legal assistant to the General Attorney, Acting General Attorney, and Deputy General Attorney for Corporate Law
He is a member of the Transportation Research Board’s National Research Council and Chair of the TRB’s Committee on Transit and Intermodal Transportation Law. He is a Senior Fellow on the Council for Excellence in Government Fellow Program and a member of the Board of Directors for Saint Anthony Hospital. A graduate of Carroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he is also a member of the Board of Trustees, he also holds a Juris Doctor degree from Howard University School of Law and is a member of the Illinois and Federal Bars.
