RRB names new Director of Retirement and Survivor Benefits

(Source: Railroad Retirement Board press release, January 4, 2022)

CHICAGO — The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) has selected Letitia C. Carthans as the agency’s next Director of Retirement and Survivor Benefits, effective January 3, 2022. She will replace Valerie Allen, who is retiring after more than 31 years of RRB service.

In her new position, Ms. Carthans will be responsible for administering the payment of more than $13.6 billion in benefits to approximately 500,000 railroad retirees, spouses, and survivors. She will oversee about 65 claims examiners who handle initial applications for retirement and survivor benefits, as well as post-adjudicative actions after eligibility has been established. Ms. Carthans has been Deputy Director of Retirement and Survivor Benefits since August 2015.

Born and raised in Chicago, Ms. Carthans started at the RRB as an initial retirement claims examiner in July 1988. She subsequently became a post claims examiner in August 1990 for a little over a year before spending 4 years as an initial supervisor, overseeing the agency’s pilot satellite center in Olympia Fields, Illinois. After the closing of the center, she spent the next 3 years as a supervisor in the retirement post section.

Ms. Carthans then worked for 17 years as an Operations Analyst in the Retirement and Survivor Benefits Division before being named Deputy Director in 2015.

She attended Illinois State University in Normal, and worked in customer support for Professional Services at the University of Chicago before coming to the RRB. She currently resides in Matteson, Illinois, and has one adult daughter.

Thursday, January 6, 2022