President Donald Trump intends to nominate Heidi King to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. King is already in a leadership role at the regulatory agency — she has served as deputy administrator since September. NHTSA’s previous administrator was Mark Rosekind, an Obama appointee whose tenure ended before Trump took office in January 2017.
King’s experience in Washington includes serving as chief economist for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and as a regulatory policy analyst in the White House’s Office of Management and Budget from 1998 to 2000 and from 2007 to 2011. In those roles, she became familiar with NHTSA and its work on Corporate Average Fuel Economy, according to her official NHTSA bio.
King has also worked in the private sector, for such companies as Telcordia Technologies, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, and GE Capital. She reportedly gained experience in traffic safety and emergency response as a California state park ranger and as a volunteer emergency medical technician.
