WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:
David T. Matsuda, Administrator, Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation
Michael P. Huerta, Deputy Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation
President Obama said, “I am grateful that such talented individuals have joined my administration at this important moment in our nation’s history. I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years.”
President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals today:
David T. Matsuda, Nominee for Administrator, Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation
David T. Matsuda has been serving as Deputy Administrator and Acting Administrator of the United States Maritime Administration since July 2009. He is a transportation professional with more than a decade of experience in federal transportation policy, programs and oversight. Prior to his current position, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), where he served as a chief policy advisor and focused on issues including surface transportation reauthorization, maritime matters, labor issues and high-speed rail, and oversaw key projects including the rollout of two new infrastructure grant programs. Previously, Matsuda spent more than seven years working in the United States Senate, helping to draft and secure passage of critical pieces of significant federal transportation legislation, including modernization of oil pollution prevention and response programs, an overhaul of our nation’s passenger rail system, and security improvements at U.S. seaports. Matsuda has served on the staff of U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security, the Office of Chief Counsel at the USDOT’s Federal Railroad Administration and as a Georgetown University Government Affairs Institute Fellow. He earned his B.S. in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA, and his J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law in San Diego, CA.
Michael P. Huerta, Nominee for Deputy Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation
Michael P. Huerta has his own consulting firm, which advises clients on transportation policy, technology and financing. Until April 2009, Huerta was Group President of the Transportation Solutions Group of Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., a technology services provider supporting transportation agencies worldwide. Before joining ACS, he was a Managing Director with the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic Winter Games of 2002. From 1993 to 1998, Huerta served in two senior positions at the Department of Transportation under President Bill Clinton. He also held senior positions in the cities of San Francisco and New York. Huerta has a master’s degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Riverside. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America and served as a member of President Obama’s transition team for the U.S. Department of Transportation.