Gives Talk on Managing Accident Investigation Agency Imagine a world without the news of car wrecks or train collisions or airplane crashes. The seminar, to take place in the Johnson Hall Auditorium, will begin at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22. Jordan will speak on the management challenges of running the NTSB, and Foster will give a slide-show describing its basic functions. Within minutes of an accident, Jordan has mobilized his team and sent his investigators rolling to the disaster scene.
Time is of the essence for the nation's premier accident investigation agency.
The NTSB's goals for improved transportation safety include urging states to strengthen zero blood alcohol content legislation and pulling drivers' licenses on the spot from anyone failing or refusing a chemical test for alcohol. Jordan, as a retired brigadier general in the Tennessee Air National Guard, has strong ties to Tennessee. Before joining the NTSB, he held administrative positions with Vanderbilt University, Meharry Medical College and the Tennessee governor's staff, in addition to serving as chief of staff in the U.S. Department of Justice. Foster, a 1986 senior executive fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, was, at age 28, one of the youngest chief financial officers in the federal government. In his 18 years of public service, he has received 20 performance and special act awards.