NTSB chief — and DOT contender — thanks LaHood for service

{mosads}Hersman told reporters prior to LaHood’s announcement that she was focused on her current job. However, she worked on Capitol Hill on transportation committees until she joined the NTSB in 2004 and she was initially appointed to the panel by former President George W. Bush.

Hersman, a Democrat, worked for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee from 1999-2004. She was also an aide to former Rep. Bob Wise (D-W.Va.), from 1992 to 1999.

She also might be attractive to President Obama as a potential Transportation secretary pick because he’s come under fire for lacking gender diversity in his first round of picks for Cabinet positions in his second term. Obama’s appointments for the secretaries of State, Defense and Treasury and head of the CIA are all white men.

The NTSB is independent of the transportation department, although the work of the two agencies is often intertwined, as is the case in the recent investigations into the Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” airplane.

White House officials have been tight-lipped about the Department of Transportation’s future, even before LaHood’s departure. A host of candidates have been rumored to be in contention, however, in addition to Hersman.