2020 TRB Annual Meeting: Secretary Chao is the Chair's Luncheon Keynote Speaker

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao will be the keynote speaker at the TRB Annual Meeting Chair’s Luncheon, which will take place on Wednesday, January 15, 2020.

This is Secretary Chao's second cabinet position. Previously, she served as U.S. Secretary of Labor, the first Asian American woman appointed to the President's cabinet in American history.

Secretary Chao has a distinguished career in the private, public and nonprofit sectors. She was a transportation banker in the private sector, and worked on transportation issues at the White House. She then served as Deputy Maritime Administrator; Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission; and, Deputy U.S. Secretary of Transportation. She also served as Director of the Peace Corps, and President and CEO of the United Way of America.

Under Secretary Chao’s leadership, a key U.S. Department of Transportation priority is engaging with new technology to address legitimate public concerns about safety, security and privacy without hampering innovation. These innovations include new, quieter supersonic aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems, autonomous vehicles, commercial space, clean-burning natural gas-powered ships, zero emission buses, and faster railways.

Many new technologies involve more than one traditional mode of transportation. Secretary Chao directed the establishment of the Non-Traditional and Emerging Transportation Technology, or NETT Council, to function as a one-stop shop for innovators and stakeholders to work with the U.S. Department of Transportation on new cross-modal technologies.

Secretary Chao received her MBA from the Harvard Business School, and her undergraduate degree in economics from Mount Holyoke College. She is the recipient of 37 honorary doctorate degrees.

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) 99th Annual Meeting will be held January 12–16, 2020, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, in Washington, D.C. The information-packed program is expected to attract more than 13,000 transportation professionals from around the world.

All full registrants at the 99th Annual Meeting will be eligible to pick up a complimentary copy of the book, The Transportation Research Board, 1920-2020: Everyone Interested Is Invited, which chronicles the important events, people, and successes that helped make TRB what it is today.

The meeting program will cover all transportation modes, with more than 5,000 presentations in nearly 800 sessions and workshops, addressing topics of interest to policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions. A number of sessions and workshops will focus on the spotlight theme for the 2020 meeting: A Century of Progress: Foundation for the Future.