Following a national search that included more than 250 candidates, MARTA is set to pick its next leader this week, during a high-stakes era for Atlanta’s transit authority with a new rail fleet pending, a streetcar extension up in the air, and its main transit hub undergoing a foundational overhaul.
MARTA announced this week that huge pool of candidates has been whittled down to three finalists for the role of General Manager and Chief Executive Officer for one of the largest public transit systems in the U.S.
Among those interviewed by MARTA’s Board of Directors on Monday were Jonathan Hunt (the agency’s Interim GM and CEO over the past year) and two longtime transit officials, Cleveland Ferguson III and Leroy Jones, respectively.
The board expects to pick its permanent GM and CEO at its regularly scheduled board meeting Thursday. The national candidate search was conducted with the firm Diversified Search Group and resulted in more than 250 candidates being identified and contacted “across the transportation sector, spanning public transit agencies at the federal and state levels, airports and airlines, freight and passenger railroads, port authorities, and logistics organizations,” per MARTA.
Jennifer N. Ide, the MARTA board chair who’s led the GM/CEO search, called the pick “one of the most consequential decisions this board will make” in a statement this week.
Duties for MARTA’s GM/CEO include reporting to the board and leading an executive team that covers all operations, from urban planning, finance, administration, capital programs, safety and quality assurance, and legal to the transit agency’s customer experience.
So yeah, it’s kind of a big deal.
Below is a quick summary of each finalist (in alphabetical order), as provided by MARTA this week. Please have a read and log a vote for your choice in the poll below.
...
Cleveland Ferguson III is Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA), a role he has held since 2023 after joining JTA in 2015 and serving as Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer. He leads the authority's administrative operations, strategic planning, and economic development initiatives, including public-private partnerships and transit-oriented development, and founded JTA University, the agency’s workforce-development program.
Cleveland Ferguson III Courtesy of MARTA
He previously served as Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Jacksonville and spent a decade as a professor of law at Florida Coastal School of Law. He holds a bachelor's degree in legal studies from Nova Southeastern University and a Juris Doctor from Florida State University and is a member of the Florida Bar and the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court.
…
Jonathan J. Hunt has served as MARTA’s Interim General Manager/CEO since August 2025. He joined MARTA in 2014 and spent more than a decade in the authority's legal department as Chief of Corporate Law and Real Estate, then Deputy Chief Counsel, and ultimately Chief Legal Counsel before being named Interim GM/CEO. Earlier in his career he was a Senior Assistant City Attorney for the City of Atlanta, handling aviation matters for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, practiced law at Denton’s and Baker & Hostetler, and was a project engineer with Gilbane Building Company.
Jonathan J. Hunt Courtesy of MARTA
Hunt serves on the national board of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and chairs its Legal Affairs Committee. He holds a bachelor's degree from Hampton University and a Juris Doctor from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
…
Leroy Jones is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), a role he assumed in 2025.
Leroy Jones Courtesy of MARTA
Over more than 26 years at WMATA, he rose from an entry-level track laborer through a series of operations and maintenance roles including Superintendent of Track Maintenance, Vice President and later Senior Vice President of Bus Services, and Chief Transportation Officer before being named Chief Operating Officer, where he oversees the authority’s bus and rail operations.
He holds a Master of Science in Public Administration from Central Michigan University.
