Hutcheson receives FMCSA administrator nomination

President Joe Biden has pegged Robin Hutcheson to be the next permanent leader of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The announcement came via a White House news release on Wednesday, April 6.

Biden also announced four other nominations:

• Carol Spahn, director of the Peace Corps.
• Jaime Lizárraga, commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Mark Uyeda, commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Vincent Logan, member of the Farm Credit Administration.

Hutcheson has served FMCSA in the acting administrator role since January.

She served as the U.S. Department of Transportation’s deputy assistant secretary for safety policy starting in January 2021.

“In this role, she led safety policy for the department and coordinated other critical efforts, including COVID-19 response and recovery,” the FMCSA wrote in a January news release. “She was instrumental in the development of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, especially the new Safe Streets and Roads for All program.”

Hutcheson took over FMCSA’s acting administrator role from Meera Joshi, who announced in December she was leaving the agency to become a deputy mayor for New York City.

Before joining the U.S. Department of Transportation, Hutcheson was the director of public works for the city of Minneapolis, overseeing a team of 1,100 people across nine divisions, including drinking water, surface waters and sewers, solid waste and recycling, fleet management, and all transportation functions. She also has served as the transportation director for Salt Lake City and was on the board of directors for the National Association of City Transportation Officials for seven years.

Since joining FMCSA, Hutcheson has been active in the creation and implementation of the administration’s Trucking Action Plan. During a trip to the Mid-America Trucking Show in March, Hutcheson spoke about the plan and said that the administration felt the “urgency” to do something about the truck parking crisis.

If Hutcheson is confirmed, she will become FMCSA’s first permanent administrator since Ray Martinez stepped down in October 2019.

Following Martinez’s departure, the agency has been led by acting Administrators Jim Mullen, Wiley Deck, Joshi and Hutcheson. LL