DOT makes senior staff appointments

   The U.S. Department of Transportation has concluded a round of senior staff appointments.
   These appointments include:
     • Anthony Bedell, who has 20 years business and government relations experience, to deputy assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs;
     • Michael Britt, formerly vice president of corporate communications and government relations for UFC, to senior advisor to the secretary for ATO modernization;
     • Chris Brown, who previously served at the FAA as associate administrator and vice president of legislative and regulatory policy at Airlines for America, as associate administrator for government and industry affairs for FAA;
     • Geoff Burr, former deputy assistant secretary for congressional and intergovernmental affairs for President George W. Bush and vice president of government affairs at Associated Builders & Contractors, as chief of staff;
     • Thomas ‘Finch’ Fulton, former staffer to Reps. Jim McCrery and John Fleming and former Sen. Jeff Sessions, as deputy assistant secretary for transportation policy;
     • Wendy Gehring, previously special assistant at the Department of Labor from 2001 to 2007, as director of scheduling;
     • Laura Genero, formerly the Labor Department’s associate deputy secretary of Labor, to secretary for strategic communications;
     • J. Todd Inman, former small business owner from Kentucky, to director of operations;
     • Ruth Drinkard Knouse, who worked for former Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Dole during the Reagan administration and director of the executive secretariat at the Labor Department under President George W. Bush, to director of the executive secretariat;
     • Matthew Kopko, former New York attorney for corporate clients, to counselor to the deputy secretary;
     • Marianne McInerney, who joins the department with 20 years of transportation experience focused on electric vehicles, new energy, and other technologies, to assistant to the secretary and director of public affairs;
     • Sean McMaster, formerly a staffer with the Office of Oversight for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to deputy assistant secretary for congressional affairs;
     • James Ray, who has 20 years in DOT, the White House and Capitol Hill, and was recently a principal in KPMG’s infrastructure consulting practice, to special advisor to the secretary for infrastructure;
     • G. Bryan Slater, recently director of operations and facilities for Freedom Partners Shared Services, to assistant secretary for administration;
     • And Tamara Somerville, who was a senior advisor to the Labor Department for 2004-2009, and leading staffer to the Senate Committee on rules and administration, to senior advisor.