The Biden-Harris administration has nominated a broad slate of appointees to take over crucial positions within the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Those appointees include members of the state department of transportation community, with Stephanie Pollack – currently secretary and CEO of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation – nominated to be deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration.
The USDOT noted in a statement that Lana Hurdle – currently the agency’s deputy assistant secretary for budget and programs – would serve as the acting secretary of transportation until Secretary-designee Pete Buttigieg, nominated to be USDOT secretary in December 2020, is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
The administration also nominated Polly Trottenberg to be deputy secretary at USDOT.
Trottenberg – commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation for the last seven years – served as USDOT’s assistant secretary for transportation policy and under-secretary for policy during the Obama-Biden Administration.
Trottenberg also helped implement the nation’s first Vision Zero program, taking a multi-disciplinary approach to eliminating traffic fatalities and injuries. She has also focused on improving transportation equity and access.
Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration released the names of its “initial team” of USDOT appointees on January 21. They include several deputy modal administrators including Stephanie Pollack as deputy administrator for the Federal Highway Administration, Nuria Fernandez as deputy administrator for the Federal Transit Administration, Amit Bose as deputy administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, Steve Cliff as deputy administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Brad Mims as the deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. The list also includes:
- Ann Carlson, chief counsel for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Florence Chen, special assistant for policy
- Casey Clemmons, special assistant at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
- Christopher Coes, principal deputy assistant secretary for transportation policy
- Robert Hampshire, principal deputy assistant secretary for research and technology
- Maurice Henderson, senior advisor
- Danielle Hirshberg, deputy chief of staff for operations
- Justine Hong, director of executive secretariat
- Robin Hutcheson, deputy assistant secretary for safety policy
- Subash Iyer, chief counsel for the Federal Transit Administration
- Meera Joshi, deputy administrator at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
- Tatjana Kunz, special assistant for policy
- Lucinda Lessley, deputy administrator for the Maritime Administration
- Diana Lopez, senior advisor to the administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration
- Irene Marion, director of the departmental office of civil rights
- Edward McGlone, deputy assistant secretary for Congressional affairs/House of Representatives
- Philip McNamara, assistant secretary for administration
- Carlos Monje Jr., senior advisor and acting chief of staff
- Allie Panther, White House liaison
- Alex Peña, Special Assistant to the General Counsel
- Carol “Annie” Petsonk, principal deputy assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs
- John Putnam, deputy general counsel
- Will Rasky, special assistant for governmental affairs
- Courtenay Raymond, director of scheduling and advance
- Andrew Rogers, chief counsel for the Federal Highway Administration
- Laura Schiller, chief of staff
- Michael Shapiro, deputy assistant secretary for economic policy
- Sophie Shulman, deputy chief of staff for policy
- Dani Simons, assistant to the secretary and director of public affairs
- Charles Small, deputy assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs
- Mohsin Syed, principal deputy assistant secretary for Congressional affairs/Senate
- Charlene Wang, special assistant for the Federal Highway Administration
- Victoria Baecher Wassmer, deputy assistant secretary for finance and budget
- Vinn White, senior advisor for implementation
- Laurence Wildgoose, assistant administrator for policy/international affairs/environment at the Federal Aviation Administration