Former Secretary Mineta Receives Medal for Lifetime Achievement From TRB
Norman Mineta, the country’s secretary of transportation during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and a former chairman of the transportation committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, received the lifetime achievement award at the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting in Washington.
The board recognized the former secretary Jan. 11 with its Frank Turner Medal for his role in helping to boost economic development, infrastructure projects and technology policy during stints as secretary of transportation under President George W. Bush and as secretary of commerce under President Bill Clinton.
Soon after the 9/11 attacks, Mineta joined a group of top officials in crafting security enhancements in aviation, in which he helped establish the Transportation Security Administration.
During his time in Congress, Mineta was chairman of the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation from 1992 to 1994. He also served as chairman of the subcommittees on Aviation and Surface Transportation. On the committee, he was a main author of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.
The 1991 highway law established the Mineta Transportation Institute, at the Lucas Graduate School of Business at San Jose State University. The institute competed in the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2011 to earn the recognition of a Tier 1 Transit-Focused University Transportation Center. Its funds are derived from DOT’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology and the California Department of Transportation as well as other public and private grants and donations, such as grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“Secretary Mineta has profoundly impacted transportation in the Unites States of America, influencing aviation, surface transportation and infrastructure and national security. He has dedicated his life’s work to ensure that every American has access to safe and reliable mobility. He is a visionary and true American hero,” said Karen Philbrick, the institute’s executive director.
Since 2006, Mineta has been vice chairman of the Hill & Knowlton firm in Washington, where he offers counsel and advice to clients. As a vice president at Lockheed Martin, he helped oversee the first implementation of the E-ZPass system in New York, according to background TRB provided.
Mineta has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom as well as the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, which recognizes significant public service of enduring value to aviation in the United States.
