Leanne Redden

Leanne Redden is executive director of the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA). The agency manages an annual regional transit operating budget of approximately $3 billion with assets of approximately $160 billion and a more than $8.3 billion five-year capital program.

Under Redden’s leadership, the RTA created Invest in Transit, the regional transit strategic plan covering 2018 to 2023 that makes the case for the region’s capital funding needs. Redden was pivotal in regional advocacy efforts that culminated with the 2019 passage of Rebuild Illinois, the largest capital bill in Illinois history. Before joining the RTA, Redden was chief of planning for the Illinois Tollway and director of transportation for the Village of Schaumburg. She was a key player in Illinois’ 2008 transit funding and governance reform legislation. Redden was named 2015 “Woman of the Year” by the Chicago chapter of WTS (Women’s Transportation Seminar) and is a Conference of Minority Transportation Officials 2016 “Woman Who Moves the Nation.”

In 2021, she was appointed as one of two “U.S. Ambassadors” to the policy board that governs UITP (Union Internationale des Transports Publics, or the International Association of Public Transport), founded in 1885 to advocate for sustainable urban mobility. She sits on the board of American Public Transportation Association. In 2022, Redden was elected Secretary to the 2022-2024 WTS International Board of Directors.

You can follow Redden on Twitter @LReddenRTA.