NMB names Brown arbitration services director

The National Mediation Board (NMD) announced Terri Brown has been appointed director of the Office of Arbitration Services. She succeeds Roland Watkins, who retired Oct. 1, 2019.

Brown joined NMD in 2002 as a mediator. She was promoted to senior mediator in 2010. During her tenure, she successfully mediated complex cases in the railroad and airline industries. Most recently, she was responsible for coordinating the bargaining between the National Carrier Conference Committee and various unions and coalitions, NMB officials said in a press release.

In 2015, Brown led the Arbitrator Utilization Program, an NMB-sponsored course aimed at providing training and education to labor arbitrators with minimal experience in railroad grievance arbitration. 

Brown began her career in labor relations at Amtrak in 1988 as a labor contract administrator. Two years later, she was promoting to labor relations officer; in that role, she gained extensive experience in rail arbitration, NMB officials said.

Created by the Railway Labor Act, the NMB is an independent agency that governs labor and management relations in the rail and airline industries.