The RTA Citizens Advisory Board (RTACAB) advises the RTA Board of Directors and staff on issues related to the coordination of accessible public transportation services across the region, the provision and efficiency of other regional transportation programs, and the impact of the RTA’s policies and programs on the communities within the metropolitan region.
The following are the 2024 dates of the RTA Transit Access Citizens Advisory Board:
Wednesday March 6, 2024 Location: RTA offices, Board Room Members of the public and RTACAB members who |
Monday April 22, 2024 Location: RTA offices, Board Room Members of the public and RTACAB members who |
Monday July 22, 2024 10:00 a.m. to noon Location: RTA offices, Board Room Members of the public and RTACAB members who | Monday October 28, 2024 10:00 a.m. to noon Location: RTA offices, Board Room Members of the public and RTACAB members who |
Find all agendas, minutes, and materials for current and past meetings of the Citizens Advisory Board on the Meeting Materials page.
The RTA will provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities who need to attend or observe a meeting. Please call Michael VanDekreke, Director, Mobility Services at (312) 913-3204 or email him at vandekrekem@rtachicago.org to request accommodations. Due to the unpredictable nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting location will be announced closer to the date of each meeting. Meetings will either take place virtually via Zoom or in person at RTA headquarters.
Jackie Forbes, Chair | Romina Castillo | Ryan Ruehle, Vice-Chair |
Jazmin Vega | Joe Surdam | Colin Philips |
John Loper | Rob Hart | Adam H. Kerman |
Katanya Raby | Loren Gutierrez |
Jaqueline "Jackie" Forbes, Kane County
Jackie Forbes is Chief of Planning and Programming for the Kane County Division of Transportation and Executive Director of the Kane Kendall Council of Mayors. She is responsible for project programming, short- and long-range planning, and activities related to highway, transit, and bicycle/pedestrian facilities. Jackie has a B.A. from Miami University and M.S. from DePaul University. She lives in Geneva and was a daily CTA and Metra rider for many years, and now uses Metra to attend meetings and events in Chicago.
Romina Castillo, City of Chicago
Romina Castillo, a Mexico City native, has always been fascinated by urban communities and their relationship with the built environment. She is a graduate from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Master in Urban Planning and a Bachelor in Architecture. For the last ten years, Romina has collaborated closely with Chicago communities focusing on equitable mobility, coalition-building, and inclusive community engagement practices. In 2022, she joined the Chicago Department of Transportation as its first Director of Outreach and Engagement where she coordinates city-wide engagement forums, manages de SAFE Ambassadors team, develops and implements best engagement practices, and builds partnerships with stakeholders to support equitable and safe mobility initiatives and projects across the city.
Ryan Ruehle, AICP Suburban Cook County
Ryan is a planner and project manager with the Cook County Department of Transportation & Highways within the Strategic Planning & Policy group, where he leads transit, bike, pedestrian, and related transportation efforts. He currently commutes via Metra and has been a regular patron of CTA, Metra, and Pace buses and trains for more than 20 years. His professional transit experience includes roles in project management, service planning, strategic planning, and capital planning throughout seven years at private consulting firms followed by eight years at Pace. Ryan holds BA and master of urban planning and policy (MUPP) degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Joe Surdam, Lake County
Joe Surdam has multiple roles at Lake County Division of Transportation including Paratransit Coordinator and Senior Planner. He is responsible for helping oversee and manage Ride Lake County, a borderless countywide paratransit service, and advancing Lake County Council of Mayors goals which entail project programming and coordination amongst community officials and transportation agencies. Joe graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Community and Regional Planning and frequently uses CTA and Divvy bikes to attend meetings in Chicago.
Rob Hart, Metra Citizens Advisory Board
Rob Hart has been a resident of the Beverly Hills/Morgan Park community in Chicago since 1984, and has been a Metra rider since 1978. Mr. Hart has been on the Metra Citizen’s Advisory Council since 2016. Mr. Hart has almost 40 years of experience in transportation finance, beginning with 12 years employed at the Illinois Central Railroad then five years at Railroad Financial Corp. From 1995 to 2010 he worked as a banker in the Transportation group of ABN Amro Bank and then LaSalle Bank and Bank of America. He had been Vice President and Managing Director for Fifth Third Bank’s Surface Transportation division, 2010-2016. Mr. Hart earned a bachelor’s degree (1977) and a M.B.A. (1978) from Northwestern University. While at Northwestern he worked part time for the Regional Transportation Authority.
Adam H. Kerman, Pace Citizens Advisory Board
Adam Kerman has been a member of the Pace Citizens Advisory Board since 2005 and co-chairman since 2017. He is executive director of Transit Riders' Authority, a passenger advocacy and consumer organization founded in 1992. He builds and maintains databases and performs bookkeeping and prepares tax returns for small nonprofit organizations. He also teaches economic theory and philosophy of Henry George at the Henry George School. He also assists authors to prepare their books for cataloging and identification.
Loren Gutierrez, The Network
Loren Gutierrez was appointed to the RTACAB by The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence. Loren is a Managing Attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services, where she oversees programs providing free legal services to survivors of gender-based violence and elder abuse in Cook and DuPage Counties. She is a graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law and Quincy University.
Commissioner Rachel Arfa | Xavier Potts | Libia Bianibi City of Chicago |
| Ayesha Akhtar Suburban Cook | Karl Gieseke DuPage County | Parker Thompson Kane County |
| Victoria Zimmerman Lake County | Terry Kappel McHenry County | Douglas Fowler Will County |
| Michael VanDekreke RTA Staff |
Xavier Potts, City of Chicago
Xavier Potts is a passionate public transit advocate. Xavier shares that he primarily uses the CTA, but his passion and interest expands to all transit networks in the region and across the country. Accessibility is a very important issue to Xavier, and he looks forward to the opportunity to help make our world-class regional transportation network the best it can be.
Libia Bianibi, City of Chicago
Libia Bianibi is a nonprofit worker focused on building resilient organizations where all people can thrive. Throughout her career, she has prioritized advancing racial equity, ethical cultural exchange, and economic justice to support solutions to the challenges facing marginalized communities. Originally from the Zapotec community of Juchitan, Oaxaca, she is now based in Chicago, land of the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi Nations where she teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and serves as Deputy Director for Building Equity & Alignment for Environmental Justice (BEA).
Ayesha Akhtar, Suburban Cook
Ayesha Akhtar is the current VP of Health Equity, Education & Advocacy, after having been the Director of Education, and prior to that the Education Coordinator with the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago beginning in 2011. Ayesha is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago, where she earned a B.B.A. in accounting. In 2010 she earned her M.P.H. from the University of Illinois-Chicago, focusing on culturally sensitive approaches to health care. She has over 20 years of experience as a public health advocate in a variety of settings and is passionate about advancing health equity by empowering and educating communities. Ayesha shares that she rides the Green Line twice weekly to work from Oak Park, IL.
Karl Gieseke, DuPage County
Karl Gieseke was born in Winfield, and currently resides in Carol Stream. Since his childhood, he has utilized a combination of Metra and CTA transportation for work, school, and sporting events in Chicago and along the UP-West line. His passions include veteran advocacy, the impacts of transportation on the health of communities, and serving the medically underserved. He is excited to serve the ridership of DuPage County on the RTACAB.
Parker Thompson, Kane County
Parker Thompson is a co-founder and the executive director of Elgin Community Bikes, a non-profit organization using bike riding to make Elgin a healthier, happier, and more equitable community. In addition to their work using bicycles for transportation and community development, Parker and Elgin Community Bikes provide community education and advocacy leadership in the greater Elgin area for safer streets for walking and public transportation. Parker began his active transportation advocacy on the City of Elgin’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee in 2016, shortly after moving to Elgin and navigating the suburban city with two toddlers by cargo bike, stroller, and bus. He continues to navigate the city and region with his young family by all modes of transportation. Parker is currently a member of the Transportation Equity Network and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s Community Alliance for Regional Equity.
Victoria Zimmerman, Lake County
Victoria Zimmerman is a Global Impact and Sustainability professional for global corporations and NGO organizations. She looks forward to engaging with the RTA strategic planning teams, and believes public transit is the key to economic mobility and positive environmental impact for Illinois.
Terry Kappel, McHenry County
Terry Kappel is a Chicago native who moved to McHenry County in 1971. He has been a rider on the RTA in McHenry for over 40 years. Kappel has an Associate's degree from McHenry County College, and attended Northern Illinois University in the early 2000s pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in History for a year before becoming disabled by lifelong depression symptoms. In December of 2022 Kappel became an advocate for expanded route bus service in McHenry County, speaking at several McHenry County Board meetings, county Transportation committee meetings and lobbying local officials on this issue.
Douglas Fowler, Will County
Doug Fowler is an educator in Joliet and a Will County resident. He earned his Ph.D in Special Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a life-long public transit advocate. He is excited to help foster the success of the RTA strategic plan and ensure access to RTA services for all residents of the Chicagoland area.
