At a special meeting, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) board selected David Leininger to serve as DART’s Interim President/Executive Director. The appointment follows Gary Thomas’ recent decision to retire from DART after almost 20 years of leadership at the agency. Leininger will join the agency as the Deputy Executive Director on Nov. 3 and assume the role of Interim President/Executive Director on February 1.

Thomas’ retirement is effective at the end of January 2021. He will continue to provide support for the Interim President/Executive Director and the board on a part-time basis as needed. Board Chairman Paul N. Wageman has established an Ad-hoc Search Committee to lead a comprehensive national search process to identify the President/Executive Director of DART.

Leininger is no stranger to the agency, having previously serving as Executive VP/CFO for DART until his departure in 2018.

Leininger originally joined DART as Sr. VP/CFO in December 2008. In February of 2012, he was promoted to Executive VP and given the additional oversight of the Information Technology, Marketing & Communications, Procurement, and Risk Management departments.

“I would like to thank DART’s employees and management team for their tremendous effort and achievement which have brought us here,” said Gary Thomas, DART president/executive director. “I have great faith in David’s experience, knowledge and drive to ensure the agency’s continued success serving the residents of North Texas.”

Prior to joining DART, Leininger was associated with the City of Irving for five years, serving initially in the capacity of CFO and subsequently as managing director, development services and economic initiatives. His previous public sector experience includes positions as budget director and director of the Office of Economic Development for the City of Dallas and fiscal services administrator for the City of Garland.