Polly Trottenberg, the former NYC transportation commissioner, has been tapped by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as deputy secretary of Transportation as he fills out his administration before taking office on Wednesday.
Trottenberg, who stepped down as the city’s transportation chief in November after having served since 2014, is one of five women he named Monday as deputy secretaries, according to his transition team.
Named along with Trottenberg are Elizabeth Klein, deputy secretary of the Interior, Dr. Jewel Bronaugh, deputy secretary of Agriculture, Andrea Palm, deputy secretary of Health and Human Services, and Cindy Marten, deputy secretary of Education.
During her time at the helm of the city department of Transportation, she created the “Vision Zero” program to reduce traffic fatalities, oversaw the controversial program to build bike lanes across the city and shepherded the 14th Street busway project.
She previously served in the Obama administration as assistant secretary for transportation policy and under secretary for policy at the US Department of Transportation.
Klein, Palm and Bronaugh also held posts in the Obama administration.
Klein worked in the Department of the Interior in the Clinton and Obama administrations on renewable energy programs, and was most recently the deputy director of the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at NYU School of Law.
Palm held a number of roles in the Department of Health and Human Services during the Obama years, including acting assistant secretary for legislation and chief of staff for the senior counselor to the secretary, and worked on the Affordable Care Act and fighting the opioid epidemic.
Most recently she is the secretary-designee of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
Bronaugh is commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and served as Virginia executive director for the Farm Service Agency when Tom Vilsack ran the Department of Agriculture between 2009 and 2017.
Marten has been the superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District since 2013.
Among the other appointments Monday are Rohit Chopra as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Gary Gensler as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.