Senate confirms Katherine Lemos as CSB chair

Washington — The Senate on March 23 confirmed Katherine Lemos as chair of the Chemical Safety Board, which was in danger of having no board members in a few months.

Before Lemos’ confirmation, interim Executive Authority Kristen Kulinowski was the agency’s lone board member. Kulinowski’s term is set to expire in August; Lemos begins a five-year term. However, with only two seats on the five-member board filled, CSB still lacks a quorum.

In an interview with Federal News Network published March 9, Kulinowski said the agency can still deploy investigators and others to incident sites, but “what may take a little bit longer is for us to release our final reports.”

Lemos’ nomination was sent to the Senate on June 24 and approved by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Sept. 25.

Lemos has worked for Northrop Grumman since 2014 and is the director of programs for its aerospace division. She also has worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

“I look forward to working closely with her on the important work of the CSB during my remaining time on the board,” Kulinowski said in a March 24 statement. “Dr. Lemos has a distinguished background in system safety, accident investigation, human factors, and advanced technology research and integration, and has broad experience across the product lifecycle in analyzing and promoting product, process and operational performance.”

Lemos joins an agency that President Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget has proposed to eliminate each fiscal year of his term. Congress has not complied with any of those requests and allocated $12 million for CSB in fiscal year 2020.