The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Board of Directors has chosen a new permanent general manager and chief executive officer during its regularly scheduled meeting Thursday.
See more about the leadership decision starting at 4 p.m. on Channel 2 Action News.
Jonathan J. Hunt, who has served as interim general manager and chief executive officer since August 2025, has been selected by the board to fill the role permanently.
Jennifer Ide, the chair of the board, said Hunt’s length of service with MARTA and his performance as interim CEO were deciding factors in choosing him as the new leader.
“Over the past year, Jonathan has demonstrated strong leadership and adept decision-making, guiding MARTA through its largest and most complex periods of improvement in its history,” she said. “At the same time, he has strengthened stakeholder relationships, improved public and employee engagement, and ensured the customer is always front and center. My fellow board members and I are thrilled to name him as permanent GM/CEO.”
Hunt joined MARTA in 2014 and spent more than a decade in its legal department, holding positions as chief of corporate law and real estate, deputy chief counsel and chief legal counsel.
Earlier in his career, he served as a senior assistant city attorney for the City of Atlanta handling aviation matters for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Hunt serves on the national board of the American Public Transportation Association.
He said he was “humbled, honored and excited to get to work.”
“I am honored by this decision and look forward to continuing the important work of improving MARTA service, increasing ridership, and expanding the transit system,” Hunt said. “This last year serving in the interim role has been the most rewarding and purposeful experience of my professional career and I have a renewed dedication to this vital work, and most importantly to the people we serve every day. Though my title is changing, my mission will remain the same: deliver routine excellence every day by creating a safe, clean and reliable transit system that we can all be extremely proud of.”
MARTA said three finalists were interviewed Monday for the position of permanent general manager and chief executive officer.
The interviews follow a national search to identify a permanent successor to lead one of the largest public transit systems in the United States.
Besides Hunt, the other two finalists included Cleveland Ferguson III, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, and Leroy Jones, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2026 Cox Media Group
