RTA Announces Two New Board Members

July 16, 2020

Contact: Melissa Meyer, Communications Specialist
               312-913-3121 meyerm@RTAChicago.org

CHICAGO – The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) announces the appointment of Mary Beth Canty and Jamie Gathing as its newest board members representing suburban Cook County. Director Canty replaces Director Ryan Higgins. Director Gathing replaces Director Douglas Troiani, who retired from the board after 25 years of service. Both appointments are effective July 1.

Director Canty is an associate at the law firm of Litchfield Cavo where her practice centers on defending clients on insurance coverage and construction liability claims. Her professional experience also includes work at a management consulting firm and a nationwide insurance company.

The daughter of a Navy officer, Director Canty is drawn to public service and was elected to the Village Board of Arlington Heights in 2019. She is active in a local chapter of the League of Women Voters and is dedicated to addressing issues of equity and diversity throughout the region with a focus on the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

Director Canty is a graduate of The College of William and Mary in Virginia and the University of Arizona Rogers College of Law. She resides with her husband and two children in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Director Gathing is a vice president at The Northern Trust Company of Chicago, where she works as a compliance manager.

Her professional experience also includes nearly a decade as Assistant Attorney General in the Illinois Office of the Attorney General’s antitrust bureau where she investigated price-fixing, bid-rigging, monopolization, and fraud in local and international companies.

Director Gathing has made public service part of her life whether on the Board of her church or in her community where she has been a Board Member for Roseland Community Hospital, the Black Women’s Lawyer’s Association, and the Pullman Community Center Development Corporation.

Director Gathing is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the Chicago-Kent College of Law. She lives with her family in South Holland and is a regular Metra rider.

“I’m pleased to welcome Director Canty and Director Gathing,” said Kirk Dillard, RTA Chairman. “Each brings her own unique expertise to the RTA Board, and together they will bring important diversity of representation and perspective as we guide our regional transit system through this challenging time.”