Steve Schlickman

Steve Schlickman has over 31 years of transportation experience beginning as a bus driver in 1975 to becoming the Executive Director of the Regional Transportation Authority in 2005, a post he left October 1, 2010 to join UIC's Urban Transportation Center. In his various positions Steve has been involved in all major surface transportation initiatives in Illinois and on the federal level since 1980 and participated in obtaining billions of dollars of funding for Illinois and the Chicago region. Steve was directly involved in the funding and reform of the Northeastern Illinois Regional Transportation Authority in 1983 and 2007/08. While at the Chicago Transit Authority in the 1980s, Steve led national efforts related to funding for transit modernization and expansion and managed a major transit rail project in the early 1990s. He has also worked on aviation and other public infrastructure initiatives, most notably the passage of the airport passenger facility charge authorization in 1990. As the first director of Chicago Mayor Daley's Washington DC office, Steve oversaw Chicago's involvement in all federal legislation affecting municipal government including the Clean Air Act amendments, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Community Development Block Grant funding. For many years, Steve ran a very successful private consulting practice specializing in transportation policy, finance and advocacy during which his client Macquarie Bank of Australia teamed with the Cintra Company of Spain to acquire the $1.8 billion concession on the Chicago Skyway.