Skip to main content

Two former secretaries of transportation speak at ITS America San Jose

Not one, but two former US Secretaries of Transportation will be on stage during keynote addresses tomorrow and Wednesday to talk about their leadership during critical times in recent history. Norman Y. Mineta gave the unprecedented order to ground all civilian air traffic
June 13, 2016 Read time: 1 min

Not one, but two former US Secretaries of Transportation will be on stage during keynote addresses tomorrow and Wednesday to talk about their leadership during critical times in recent history.

Norman Y. Mineta gave the unprecedented order to ground all civilian air traffic- -more than 4,500 planes- -on September 11, 2001 following the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. Four years later, he managed transportation for the civil response following Hurricane Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in US history.

As secretary from 1997 to 2001 Rodney E. Slater helped usher the Department of Transportation into the digital age and was instrumental in securing record federal investment in transportation. He was responsible for getting the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century passed.

A former mayor of host city San Jose, Mineta will be on stage for the Tuesday keynote featuring Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. Slater will speak at the Wednesday keynote with Frank P. DiGiammarino II, a member of the leadership team of the worldwide public sector at Amazon Web Services in US state and local government.

Related Content

  • May 15, 2019
    Linux forms foundation to improve mobility
    The Linux Foundation has formed the Urban Computing Foundation to allow companies like Google and Uber to collaborate on open source software to improve mobility. Linux, a non-profit organisation, says the software can also be used to improve safety, traffic congestion and energy consumption in connected cities. Jim Zemlin, executive director of Linux, says: “The Urban Computing Foundation is poised to provide the compatibility tools and resources for developers to create software that can map out a
  • May 8, 2015
    ITF annual transport summit
    The Annual Summit of the International Transport Forum (ITF) provides a platform for global discussion on strategies for transport in the 21st century. Since 2008, the Annual Summit has developed into the leading global get-together of the key players in transport and transport-related sectors, providing a unique platform for high-level exchange on strategic policy issues. The theme of the 2015 Summit is Transport, Trade and Tourism. It takes place in Leipzig, Germany from 27-29 May 2015, under the presi
  • January 31, 2012
    Enforcement a key part of the road safety solution
    The Partnership for Advancing Road Safety is a new organisation set up in the US to push the national debate on speed and intersection safety, something which hitherto has been absent. Here, executive director David Kelly explains the organisation's work. With moves to address drink/drug driving and the wearing of seatbelts starting to prove successful in the US, the use of inappropriate speed and poor driving at intersections have become responsible for a proportionately greater number of the deaths and in
  • March 31, 2016
    US DOT announces funding opportunity to improve bus service nationwide
    The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced the opportunity to apply for approximately US$266 million in competitive grant funding for bus programs nationwide. The funding consists of US$211 million in grants for buses and bus facilities projects, as well as US$55 million specifically for FTA’s Low and No Emission (Low-No) bus program, which promotes technologically-advanced and environmentally-friendly buses. These investments will help advance the President’