President Obama has made his selections to serve in the number 2 job at the Department of Transportation and as head of the Federal Transit Administration.
John D. Porcari has been nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of Transportation. He currently serves as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation, a position in which he is responsible for the highway, transit, aviation, maritime and motor vehicle registration modes of the state's transportation system. Porcari also oversees the state's bridge and tunnel facilities.
He is in his second tour as Maryland's Transportation Secretary, having previously served from 1999 to 2002. At MDOT, Porcari implemented a record highway program for the state, including construction of the $2.4 billion InterCounty Connector that includes an environmental program unprecedented in state history. He also was directly involved in the development and funding of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
In between his service as Maryland's Transportation Secretary, Porcari served as Vice President for Administrative Affairs at the University of Maryland. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Dayton and his Masters of Public Administration from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, State University of New York at Albany.
The President also named Peter M. Rogoff to head the Federal Transit Administration. Rogoff has served for 22 years on the staff of the Senate Appropriations Committee, including 14 years as the Democratic Staff Director of its Transportation Subcommittee. He is an expert in the area of federal infrastructure budgeting and finance, having had an active role in the financing of each of the last three comprehensive surface transportation reauthorization bills dating back to the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. He was instrumental in the establishment of new user fee mechanisms to finance expanded security measures following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Rogoff is a recipient of the U.S. Coast Guard Distinguished Public Service Award and the Lester P. Lamm Memorial Award for outstanding leadership and dedication to U.S. highway transportation programs. He earned his MBA at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and his B.A. degree in American Studies at Amherst College.