Biden taps Joshi to lead FMCSA

Former regulator and transportation consultant would be first administrator officially nominated and confirmed since Ray Martinez

(Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves & FMSCA)

President Joe Biden intends to nominate Meera Joshi to be administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the White House announced on Wednesday.

Joshi, currently FMCSA acting administrator, would be the first to hold the administrator title since Ray Martinez left the agency in October 2019. Jim Mullen and Wiley Deck led the FMCSA as deputy administrators after Martinez stepped down but were never confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Joshi must be Senate-confirmed before officially becoming administrator.

Joshi most recently served as general manager of the New York office of Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants and visiting scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation policy.

Prior to Sam Schwartz, Joshi served as chief regulator of New York City’s for-hire vehicle industry as chairman and CEO at the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission from 2014 to 2019.

“Under her leadership, New York City mandated the reporting of granular trip data from large app operators, which informed landmark data-driven safety reforms, enforceable pay standards for drivers and meaningful access to service for the disabled,” according to FMCSA.

The White House noted that prior to transportation regulation, Joshi was the inspector general for New York City’s Department of Corrections, where she was responsible for investigation of corruption and criminality at all levels of the city’s jail operations, and the first deputy executive director of the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, leading investigations of police misconduct.

Along with Joshi, Biden announced his intent to nominate Christopher Coes as the U.S. Department of Transportation’s assistant secretary for transportation policy. Coes currently heads that office in an acting role.

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John Gallagher

Based in Washington, D.C., John specializes in regulation and legislation affecting all sectors of freight transportation. He has covered rail, trucking and maritime issues since 1993 for a variety of publications based in the U.S. and the U.K. John began business reporting in 1993 at Broadcasting & Cable Magazine. He graduated from Florida State University majoring in English and business.