Spotlight: New DOT Secretary Mary E. Peters
By Pete Castellano
Mary E. Peters was nominated by President George W. Bush on September 5, 2006, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 15th Secretary of Transportation on September 30, 2006, after spending more than two decades crafting solutions to our nation's toughest transportation challenges. FAA headquarters had the honor to host Peters’ official swearing-in ceremony on October 17 th. Outgoing Secretary Norman Mineta was present for the ceremony.
During the ceremony , President Bush said modernizing air traffic control would be a major challenge for Secretary Peters. President Bush went on to highlight future aviation issues that Peters will have to handle, including next year’s FAA reauthorization legislation, which will address the modernization of the air traffic system.
In her new position, she will face important challenges,” Bush said. “Next year she will lead the Department’s efforts to reauthorize our nation’s aviation programs. Our nation is outgrowing our aviation capacity. More people are flying every year, and so we must modernize our airports and our air traffic control. “Mary is a dedicated public servant, an experienced leader, and one of our nation's most innovative thinkers on transportation issues. Mary brings more than two decades of knowledge and skill to her new post,” said Bush.
Peters acknowledged the challenges that lie ahead for her, but said she is “ready and eager” to tackle them. “Reauthorizing the nation’s aviation programs will be a significant priority,” Peters acknowledged in her nomination hearing statement September 20. This includes the critical issue of how best to finance the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. The majority of the FAA’s budget is financed from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which receives its revenue from aviation excise taxes on airline tickets, cargo, and general aviation fuel. The FAA authorization legislation – likely to be submitted to Congress early next year – also needs to adequately address the modernization of the air traffic system to deal with looming challenges. Peters said in her statement she was looking forward to working with lawmakers “on crafting a bill that not only improves aviation safety, but also identifies new approaches to modernizing the air traffic control system to meet increased travel demand … and addresses the aviation needs to small urban communities and rural areas.”
Peters’ experience should stand her in good stead for the 2007 FAA financing debate. Peters’ was credited with working well with Congress on the massive and contentious $284 billion highway bill in her former position as head of the Federal Highway Administration. James May, president and chief executive of the Air Transport Association, said in a statement that her “vast experience in the recent successful reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund” should help her in working on next year’s FAA reauthorization.
A top priority, she stressed, is making travel safer. “But we also want to work to improve the system performance and reliability, and to find 21st century solutions for 21st century transportation challenges,” she added.
In dealing with these challenges, Peters urged forward-thinking solutions. “We can't assume that the methods of the past will work for the future. Instead, we are going to recognize that our transportation challenges have changed dramatically in the 40 years since this Department came into being, and so must our approaches.”
Secretary Peters brings a unique perspective to her role as the nation’s transportation chief, having spent her career working on transportation issues in the private and public sectors, including leading both federal and state transportation agencies.
Prior to joining President Bush’s cabinet, Peters worked in Phoenix, AZ, as the national director for transportation policy and consulting at HDR, Inc., a major engineering firm. She was responsible for building a management consulting practice and formulating public policy initiatives for the firm's transportation program.
In 2001, the President asked Peters to lead the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). She served as FHWA Administrator from 2001 to 2005. From 1985 to 2001, she served in the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). During her tenure, Peters worked her way up through the ranks as a contract administrator, deputy director for administration, and deputy director. In 1998, then-Governor Jane Hull appointed her director of the agency. While in office, she was recognized as the Most Influential Person in Arizona Transportation by the Arizona Business Journal. Secretary Peters later received the 2004 National Woman of the Year Award from the Women’s Transportation Seminar, a national organization of transportation professionals.
A fourth-generation Arizonan and an avid motorcyclist, Secretary Peters holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Phoenix and attended Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government Program for State and Local Government Executives. She and her husband, Terry, have three grown children, and five grandchildren.
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