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No. 21-7 For Immediate Release

September 2021

RRB Names Arturo Cardenas as Director of Programs

The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) has named Arturo Cardenas as the agency’s 

Director of Programs.

In that position, Mr. Cardenas will oversee all operations to process and pay benefits 

administered by the agency. He will also serve on the RRB’s Executive Committee, which is 

responsible for day-to-day operations of the agency and making policy recommendations to the 

three-member Board.

A career public servant, Mr. Cardenas worked at the Social Security Administration (SSA) 

for more than 30 years before joining the RRB. During that time, he worked in a variety of 

positions in SSA field offices, regional offices and headquarters units.

He started as a claims representative, and subsequently worked as a disability examiner 

working on railroad disability cases for the Great Lakes Processing Center in Chicago. He also 

worked in the Chicago Regional Office as a Policy Expert, Disability Program Administrator, and 

Director of the Center for Disability and Programs Support.

At the time of his RRB appointment, Mr. Cardenas was the Deputy Commissioner for the 

Office of Quality Review, responsible for 1,000 employees at SSA’s headquarters in Woodlawn, 

Maryland, along with 10 regional sites and four satellite offices. His duties included assessing the 

accuracy and consistency of work performed by agency employees through various studies and

reviews. His team also conducted customer engagement surveys to obtain feedback on agency 

services, as well as to gain a better understanding of the needs of current and future SSA 

customers.

In addition, Mr. Cardenas participated in SSA’s Senior Executive Service Candidate 

Development Program. His first assignment in that program was as the Senior Technical Advisor 

for SSA’s IT Modernization initiative. He subsequently completed two other six-month 

assignments as Assistant Regional Commissioner at the Western Program Service Center in 

Richmond, California, and Deputy Regional Commissioner for the Chicago Region, overseeing 

over 220 field offices and four teleservice centers.

As part of the candidate development program, Mr. Cardenas also completed the Senior 

Executive Fellows Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, as 

well as courses through Georgetown University’s Government Affairs Institute, the U.S. Office of 

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board

RRB News

844 North Rush Street Chicago, Illinois 60611-1275

RRB.gov

General Information: 877-772-5772

Public Affairs

Media Inquiries: opa@rrb.gov

312-751-4777
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Personnel Management’s Center for Leadership Development, and the American Management 

Association.

A Chicago native and lifelong resident of the metropolitan area, Mr. Cardenas graduated 

from Columbia College Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He is married with two adult 

sons.

His appointment was effective August 30. He replaces Crystal Coleman, who retired in 

April 2021 after 29 years of Federal service.

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An independent Federal agency headquartered in Chicago, the RRB pays about $13.3 

billion a year in benefits under the Federal Railroad Retirement and Railroad Unemployment 

Insurance Acts covering the nation’s railroad workers and their families.