Three new Department of Transportation officials were confirmed by the Senate Tuesday night, finally giving the beleaguered Federal Railroad Administration a permanent leader.
Adam J. Sullivan, Raymond Martinez and Ronald L. Batory were confirmed as assistant secretary for governmental affairs, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, respectively.
The FRA has been without a permanent administrator for over a year, culminating with the final departure of acting administrator Heath Hall, who had been placed on leave when he was caught moonlighting as a consultant for the Madison County, Mississippi sheriff’s department.
Adam J. Sullivan previously worked as chief of staff for Representative Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), deputy assistant secretary for congressional affairs in the George W. Bush Department of Labor, and as a lobbyist for defense contractor Harris Corporation.
Raymond Martinez is a long-time transportation policymaker, holding leadership positions at the U.S. Department of State, the New York State Commission of Motor Vehicles and in the cabinet of former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Martinez is presently the chair of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.
Ronald L. Batory brings a half-century of railroad industry experience to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), which has seen three high-profile railroad crashes this year.
Batory began his career in railroads in 1971 with the Detroit, Toledo, and Ironton Railroad Company (DT&I) while completing his university degree.
He went on to manage the Chicago, Missouri, and Western Railway (CMW) before moving to Southern Pacific and eventually the Belt Railway Company of Chicago, where he served as president, and Consolidated Rail Corporation, where he worked until his retirement in 2017.
