Mark Rosenker Mark Rosenker is an American aviation official who served as the 11th Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB ) from August 2006 through August 2008 . He was nominated by President George W . Bush and unanimously confirmed by the U . S . Senate . He served as acting chair starting in March 2005 to August 2006 and then again from August 2008 until his resignation from the Board in July 2009 , when he returned to private life . Military service . Rosenker is a retired Air Force Reserve Major General . During his 37 - year career , Rosenker received numerous awards and decorations including the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal with One Oak Leaf Cluster and the Legion of Merit . He entered the Air Force in 1969 via the University of Maryland ROTC program . He served five years as a member of the Board of Visitors of the Community College of the Air Force . Rosenker graduated from the Air Command and Staff College and the Air War College . Government work . Rosenker was a member of the NTSB beginning March 2003 and was designated vice chairman the following month . He began his second term in January 2005 after unanimous confirmation by the United States Senate . That term expired December 31 , 2010 . From January 20 , 2001 , to March 2003 , Rosenker served as deputy assistant to the President of the United States and Director of the White House Military Office . Rosenker was traveling with President George W . Bush on September 11 , 2001 . Rosenker has served in the Department of Interior , the Federal Trade Commission , and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission . In 1990 , Rosenker was appointed by President George H . W . Bush to serve on the American Battle Monuments Commission . During his career in civilian Federal service Mr . Rosenker received 8 Presidential appointments , three of which required Senate confirmation . Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 investigation . As NTSB Chairman , Rosenker ordered the 2006 / 2007 re - opening of the controversial 1967 investigation of Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 . In the official petition for reconsideration , Paul Houle ( an amateur historian who asked for the investigation to be reopened ) suggested that numerous important facts were missing from the original investigation , as well as apparent potential conflicts of interest which should have been found at the time . Despite the cockpit voice recorder conflicting with the original NTSB report , the NTSB ' s Office of Aviation Safety found no compelling reason to make any changes to the report . Rosenker subsequently wrote to Houle , sharing the Board ' s findings upholding the probable cause and contributing factors as presented in the original NTSB report . Civilian work . Rosenker was Managing Director of the Washington , D . C . office for the United Network for Organ Sharing ( UNOS ) . Prior to working for UNOS , Rosenker was the Vice President , Public Affairs for the Electronic Industries Alliance for 23 years . In April 2012 , Rosenker was appointed by the Cruise Lines International Association ( CLIA ) to be a member of a special " Panel of Experts " to provide , advice , evaluation and assessment of potential new safety measures and best practices for improved cruise ship operations . Rosenker was named to the Sequa Corporation board of directors in August 2009 . Sequa is the parent organization to Chromalloy . He is a member of the Board of the Lattice Corporation and is the Transportation Safety Analyst for the CBS television and radio networks . Prior to that was a contributor to NBC News in the same role . Since retiring from the NTSB , he has appeared as a guest speaker at numerous aviation and other transportation industry events , and was a senior advisor to the National Coalition for Safer Roads , a photo enforcement advocacy group supported by camera vendor American Traffic Solutions . Today Rosenker is the president of the Transportation Safety Group LLC , a specialized consulting firm focused on transportation issues in the US and around the world .