Why former city, NC and federal official will lead Charlotte’s transit expansion
The Charlotte region’s new governing body over public transit has its first leader.
The 27-member Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority appointed former Charlotte City Council member David Howard as chairman at its inaugural meeting Thursday. Howard also previously served as chief deputy secretary of the North Carolina Department of Transportation and associate administrator of the Federal Highway Administration.
Mecklenburg residents voted 52.1% to 47.9% in November to approve a referendum raising the county’s sales tax rate by 1% to fund billions in road, rail and bus projects.
The legislation authorizing the referendum called for the establishment of a new board to oversee transit. The MPTA will take the Charlotte Area Transit System from the city of Charlotte and Metropolitan Transit Commission.
The city of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, the county’s six towns, local business and philanthropic groups and state leaders all got to make appointments to the new authority. Gov. Josh Stein was the only one to not publicly announce his appointment before Thursday’s meeting, with A.M.E. Zion Bishop Dwayne Walker revealed as his choice at the gathering.
In addition to Howard, the board also elected Novant Health executive Frank Emory as vice chair, former Wells Fargo executive Christy Long as secretary and developer Ned Curran as treasurer. Long was the only nominee in a competitive race, defeating NAACP President Rev. Corine Mack.
Authority members also decided the lengths of their terms on the board Thursday, randomly selecting color-coded chips from a cloth bag to decide who would get four years on the authority and who would get two. Board members will generally serve four-year terms, but the inaugural board will include some two-year appointments so that terms are staggered.
Much of the rest of the meeting was devoted to ceremony, including speeches from many of Mecklenburg’s mayors.
That included Matthews Mayor John Higdon, who opposed the transportation referendum over changes to the planned Silver Line that will likely leave his town without light rail access. Higdon said he and the town are eager to move forward with the new board, but added that the new slate of transit leaders could “throw us a bone.”
This story was originally published December 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
