WASHINGTON — The White House formally announced on Tuesday the nomination of Rick Allen Dearborn to a five-year term on Amtrak’s board of directors, where he would succeed former BNSF Railway executive Jeffrey Moreland. Dearborn, 52, an Oklahoma native, was executive director of President Donald Trump’s presidential transition team and served as deputy White House chief of staff for legislative, intergovernmental affairs and implementation, from which he resigned early this year.
Before serving in Trump’s administration, Dearborn worked for six U.S. senators, including as chief of staff to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., from 2005 to 2017. In 2003, President George W. Bush nominated him and the Senate confirmed him to be assistant secretary of energy for congressional and intergovernmental affairs, in which post he served for one year. Before that, he was director of congressional relations at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, which has been critical of Amtrak and federal investment in passenger rail.
There is no transportation experience on Dearborn’s resume. He and his wife now split their time between Alexandria, Va., and Birmingham, Ala.
— Malcolm Kenton
