President Biden nominates Homendy to continue as NTSB chair

President Joe Biden recently announced his intention to nominate Jennifer Homendy as the continuing chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

On Aug. 13, 2021, Homendy became the board's 15th chair and the fourth woman to assume the NTSB's highest seat since the agency was created in 1967. She manages an annual budget of $140 million and oversees more than 440 full-time employees across the country.

An NTSB board member since August 2018, Homendy has presided over numerous public meetings to deliberate and finalize NTSB investigations in all modes of transportation, and provided expert testimony at the federal and state levels on a wide range of transportation safety issues. She is an advocate for improving safety across all transportation modes.

From 2004 to 2018, Homendy served as the staff director of the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I). Prior to that, she held various positions with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, American Iron and Steel Institute and National Federation of Independent Business.

Throughout her tenure on the T&I committee, Homendy successfully advocated for the inclusion of NTSB safety recommendations in relevant legislation. She was instrumental in ensuring that the 2008 reauthorization of rail programs included a requirement that positive train control technology be installed on most of the U.S. railroad network.