(The NTSB distributed the following press release on March 24.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ellen G. Engleman was sworn in today as a Member and as the 10th Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Chairman Engleman was Administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) from September 2001 until this week. RSPA has responsibilities for safe and secure movement of hazardous materials to industry and consumers by all transportation modes, including the nation’s pipelines; rapid response to transportation emergencies by government agencies; training for transportation safety professionals; and applying science and technology to meet national transportation needs.
During her tenure at RSPA, Chairman Engleman successfully directed the organization to increase its efficiency and effectiveness in its safety mission. Among the agency’s recent accomplishments:
* Aggressively cleaned up the record of unresolved NTSB safety recommendations to RSPA’s Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), which resulted in the removal of OPS from the NTSB’s “Most Wanted” list for the first time in 12 years;
* Significantly increased safety enforcement actions for both OPS and the Office of Hazardous Material Safety; and
* Developed a Crisis Management Center to provide 24/7 support to the Secretary of Transportation to enhance emergency coordination at the federal, state and local levels.
With nearly 20 years of experience in public and governmental affairs, public policy and administration, Engleman is a business leader, attorney and accredited public relations professional. Before assuming her post at RSPA, Engleman was chief executive officer of Electricore, Inc., an Indiana-based non-profit consortium for research and development of advanced transportation and energy technologies through federal private/public partnerships.
Chairman Engleman previously served as both Director of Corporate and Government Affairs and as a Member of the Board of Directors at Direct Relief International, the nation’s oldest non-sectarian medical relief agency. She co-founded the Vitamin Angel Alliance, which focuses on international nutritional relief for children and women in need. She served as governmental affairs executive for GTE North, Inc., with responsibilities for federal and state telecommunications public policy and corporate communications in a 10-state region from 1987 to 1992. She was a Congressional Fellow in the office of Senator Richard G. Lugar and was Personal Assistant to former Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin.
Fulfilling a personal goal, she was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1999, and serves in Naval Reserve Mobile Public Affairs Team Detachment 208 in Jacksonville, Florida.
Engleman graduated from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1993 with a Master’s in Public Administration. She was awarded a J.D. from the Indiana University School of Law in 1987, and admitted to the Bar in the State of Indiana, and the Federal Court system. She graduated from Indiana University in 1983 with a B.A. in English and Communications. She holds APR accreditation from the Public Relations Society of America.
She will serve a 5-year term as Member, which expires on December 31, 2007. Her two-year term as Chairman, which required separate nomination by the President and confirmation by the Senate, begins today.