(The following appeared on the Progressive Railroading website on January 25, 2010.)
On Jan. 20, President Obama announced his nomination of Jeffrey Moreland as an Amtrak board member for a five-year term.
In 2007, Moreland retired from BNSF Railway Co. as executive vice president for public affairs. He previously served BNSF and its predecessor as vice president for law and general counsel. Moreland also was an attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission for eight years.
Amtrak’s nine-member board currently has four vacancies. President Obama previously nominated Anthony Coscia and Bert DiClemente for board seats; their nominations, along with Moreland’s, await Senate confirmation.
The president also nominated Earl Weener as a National Transportation Safety Board member to serve the remainder of Mark Rosenker’s term, which expires Dec. 31, 2010. Rosenker resigned from the board last year.
Weener, who retired from Boeing in 1999, is a fellow at the Flight Safety Foundation.
In addition, the president re-nominated Craig Becker as a National Labor Relations Board member for a five-year term. Obama had nominated Becker — currently associate general counsel for the Service Employees International Union and AFL-CIO — for the post last year.