Linda J. Morgan

Linda Joan Morgan (* 19th May 1952 in Chester County , Pennsylvania , † 4. November 2015 in Bethesda , Maryland ) was the last head of the US regulatory Interstate Commerce Commission and the first head of the successor to Surface Transportation Board .

biography

Linda Morgan grew up in the Washington, DC area . From 1959 to 1969 she attended Sidwell Friends School and was admitted to high school. She then attended the elite Vassar College until 1973 and received an Artium Baccalaureus in Hispanic Studies . She then studied at Georgetown University Law Center until 1976 and received a law degree. During this time she worked as a research assistant and tutor in the Law Center.

After completing her studies, she was a lawyer at Welch & Morgan until October 1978. She then moved as a legal advisor to the advisory board of the Democratic Party for the committee of the Senate for Economics, Research and Transport . In this position she worked until December 1986. During this time she was involved in drafting the Staggers Rail Act , which led to the deregulation of the railways. She was then a senior advisor to this Senate committee. In 1991, she completed a program for managers in government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University . On April 28, 1994, she was appointed to succeed Edward J. Philbin on the governing body of the Interstate Commerce Commission . From March 23, 1995 until its dissolution on December 31, 1995, she was appointed last head of the agency by Bill Clinton . On January 1, 1996, she became the first head of the successor Surface Transportation Board (STB). In 1999 she was appointed for a second term. She held this office until November 26, 2002, when Roger Nober succeeded her as head. On May 15, 2003, she resigned prematurely from the three-person management committee of the Surface Transportation Board. During the time of her activity, the approvals for the last major mergers in the North American railroad sector fall. She was also responsible for the adoption of a 15-month moratorium on mergers between railway companies in 2000. Her successor in the STB was W. Douglas Buttrey .

She then returned to work as a lawyer at Covington & Burling LLP. In 2011 she moved to the law firm Nossaman LLP, which specializes in traffic law. From 2006 she was a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Pacific Railway .

She died as a result of breast cancer diagnosed in 2011. She was married to Michael E. Karam and had a daughter born in 1985.

Awards

The Washington Post named her one of five People to Watch for 1997 in January 1998. In December 1998, she was named Woman of the Year by the Women's Transportation Seminar. In April 1999 she was named "Alumna of the Year" at the Georgetown University Law Center. She was considered one of the best railroad lawyers in the United States and was featured in Chambers USA's annual ranking list , among others .

Web links

• Obituary in Railway Age magazine
• Obituary at Nossaman LLP
• Biography on the Surface Transportation Board
• 1999 Congress nomination hearing

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Obituary