Obama to nominate Hart to lead NTSB

Washington – President Barack Obama has announced that he intends to nominate Christopher Hart as chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Hart has been with NTSB since 2009, serving as a board member and vice chairman. He has served as acting chairman since late April, when former chief Deborah A.P. Hersman resigned to become president and CEO of the National Safety Council.

Before joining NTSB, Hart spent more than a decade with the Federal Aviation Administration. He was the assistant administrator for system safety from 1995 to 2005, and deputy director for air traffic safety oversight from 2005 to 2009. He also served as a member of NTSB from 1990 to 1993 after beginning his career as an attorney.

Hart is a licensed pilot with commercial, multi-engine and instrument ratings. His great uncle, James Herman Banning, was the first African-American to receive a pilot’s license from the U.S. government, in 1926.