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Name: Strickland, David
Current Position: Former Administrator
After failing to gain political support for the nomination of Charles “Chuck” Hurley, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), President Barack Obama turned to congressional aide David L. Strickland, whose announcement did not prompt any concerns from Republicans or Democrats. He was confirmed by the Senate December 24, 2009.
Strickland, 41, attended college at Northwestern University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in communication studies and political science in 1990. He received his law degree from Harvard in 1993.
Strickland spent the past eight years on the staff of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the committee that confirmed his nomination as NHTSA administrator. As the senior counsel for the Consumer Protection Subcommittee, he was the lead staff person for the oversight of the NHTSA, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
He also has served as the lead Senate staff person in the formulation of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy reforms and standards included in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and in a staff leadership role in the reauthorization of the NHTSA in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005. Strickland is credited with playing a major role in pressing environmental rules long fought by the auto industry, and helping to write auto safety legislation and the “Do Not Call” registry law.
Strickland is married; he and his wife Robin do not have children.
Obama Picks Senate Aide as NHTSA Chief (by David Shepardson, Detroit News)