Manufacturers Tapped To Help Build Transportation Security Agency

Compiled ByJill Jusko The U.S. Department of Transportation is calling upon the private sector -- including manufacturing -- to help establish a new agency authorized late last year to take over transportation security nationwide. Executives from the private sector have been tapped for a senior advisor program to bring best practices to the Transportation Security Agency (TSA). Manufacturing executives included among the initial participants in the program are Tom Kennedy, special projects consultant and former vice president of quality for Solectron Corp., Milpitas, Calif., and Randal Null, mergers and acquisitions program director for Intel Corp., Santa Clara, Calif.. The individuals will be asked to share a wide range of expertise in areas that include procurement, recruiting, metrics and quality, operations and process modeling, and organization design and effectiveness. "[DOT Secretary Norman Y. Mineta] asked us to accept the help of a small number of the country's most talented executives, men and women who will roll up their sleeves and work side by side with the government team standing up this new agency," says Kip Hawley, TSA core team coordinator. "We have found an extraordinary group of leaders willing to do just that." The TSA is not providing salaries or federal benefits to members of the senior advisor program, but will pay for certain travel expenses and a per diem not to exceed $6,000 a month. Other private-sector participants are Chris Billings, general manager of airport guest services at Walt Disney World Co., Orlando; Lisa Glatch, senior vice president of human resources and administration for Fluor Corp., Aliso Viejo, Calif.; and Ben T. Smith, vice president of A.T. Kearney Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.