ATLANTA — Metro Atlanta’s largest transit operator no longer has an interim boss.
On Thursday, the MARTA Board of Directors selected Jonathan Hunt as permanent general manager and chief executive officer, Atlanta News First reported. Hunt had served as interim GM/CEO since August 2025 after Collie Greenwood left the agency, and earlier held the role of chief legal counsel after joining MARTA in 2014.
Atlanta News First reported that Hunt was one of three finalists after a national search. The other two were Leroy Jones, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Washington, D.C.’s Metro, and Cleveland Ferguson III, executive vice president and chief administrative officer at the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
Per ANF’s account of the board action, Hunt’s interim tenure included work on a bus-network redesign, replacement of the Breeze fare payment system, and implementation of the city’s first bus rapid transit line, as well as operations, safety, and customer experience during the FIFA World Cup games hosted in Atlanta this summer.
The permanent hire also reverses a public posture the board took about a year earlier. Atlanta News First notes that last August, board chair Jennifer Ide said the agency should look outside Atlanta for its next CEO. Hunt, for his part, had previously said he did not want the permanent job; in a July interview with ANF he said he had a change of heart, and on Thursday he credited support from MARTA’s leadership team.
ANF quoted Hunt calling the appointment “an incredible, incredible honor,” and carried a MARTA statement in which he said his mission remains delivering “a safe, clean and reliable transit system.” Board chair Ide, in ANF’s coverage, framed the vote as the start of higher expectations rather than a vote for the status quo, and said in a statement that Hunt had guided the agency through large improvement periods while strengthening stakeholder relationships.
The same report places the appointment against unfinished operational work: bus operator shortages and absenteeism have caused delays and cancellations on some routes, and the Swiss-built CQ400 railcar fleet remains on hold pending safety testing after a planned summer debut was postponed. A federal investigation into MARTA following two stabbings on the system in June — one of them fatal — also remains part of the public backdrop ANF summarized alongside the vote.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens congratulated Hunt in a statement carried by Atlanta News First, saying the city will keep working with him on accountability, transparency, and results for riders.
For riders, the practical takeaway is continuity at the top of an agency still balancing post–World Cup ridership gains with safety scrutiny, fleet modernization delays, and day-to-day bus reliability. Permanent status does not by itself clear those files; it does settle who owns them.
Primary source: Atlanta News First — MARTA names new CEO, general manager
