Marion Blakey
Encyclopedia
Marion Clifton Blakey is president and chief executive officer of the Aerospace Industries Association. AIA represents the nation’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military, and business aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial systems, space systems, aircraft engines, missiles, materiel and related components, equipment services and information technology. Blakey became the eighth fulltime chief executive of the association in 2007. Before this, she served a five year term as the 15th Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...

. Blakey was the second woman to hold the position, serving as a successor to Jane Garvey, the first woman to hold the Administrator title. She is the second Administrator who was not a licensed pilot.

Background

Blakey was born in Gadsden, Alabama
Gadsden, Alabama
The city of Gadsden is the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama, and it is located about 65 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 103,459. Gadsden is closely associated with the...

 in 1948, the daughter of an insurance lawyer and an English teacher. She had one sibling, Leslie. Blakey received her bachelor's degree with honors in international studies from Mary Washington College (1970) of the University of Virginia. She also attended Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

, School of Advanced International Studies (1973) for graduate work in Middle East Affairs, and the University of Florence
University of Florence
The University of Florence is a higher study institute in Florence, central Italy. One of the largest and oldest universities in the country, it consists of 12 faculties...

 in Florence, Italy (1969).

She is married to William Ryan Dooley, and they have one daughter, Mona, born in 1987 who now attends the University of Wisconsin.

Non-governmental service

From 1993 to 2001, Blakey was the principal of Blakey & Associates, now Blakey & Agnew, a Washington, D.C. public affairs consulting firm with a particular focus on transportation issues and traffic safety.

Prior US government service

Blakey has held four previous Presidential appointments, two of which required Senate confirmation. From 1992 to 1993, Blakey served as administrator of the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is an agency of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government, part of the Department of Transportation...

 (NHTSA). As the nation's leading highway safety official, she was charged with reducing deaths, injuries, and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes. Prior to her service at NHTSA, she held key positions at the United States Department of Commerce
United States Department of Commerce
The United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting economic growth. It was originally created as the United States Department of Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903...

, the United States Department of Education
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...

, the National Endowment for the Humanities
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...

, the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

, and the United States Department of Transportation
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, and began operation on April 1, 1967...

. For instance, in 1989 Blakey was appointed as a member of the Commission on Presidential Scholars. Prior to that, she was Deputy Assistant to the President for Public Affairs and Communications Planning at the White House. Prior to this Blakey was director of public affairs and special assistant to the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education. From 1982 to 1984, she was director of public affairs at the National Endowment for the Humanities. Previously Blakey served as director of that agency's youth programs and in its Office of Planning and Policy Assessment.

NTSB Chairman

During her tenure as National Transportation Safety Board
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...

 (NTSB) Chairman from September 26, 2001, to September 13, 2002, Blakey managed a number of accident investigations including the crash of American Airlines Flight 587
American Airlines Flight 587
American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300, crashed into the Belle Harbor neighborhood of Queens, a borough of New York City, New York, shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on November 12, 2001. This is the second deadliest U.S...

 in November 2001. Blakey worked to improve the Board's accident reporting process and increased industry and regulatory responsiveness to NTSB safety recommendations. Additionally, Blakey strengthened the Board's advocacy and outreach programs to promote safer travel throughout all modes of transportation. She also furthered development of the NTSB Academy as an international resource to enhance aviation safety and accident investigations.

FAA Administrator


Blakey was sworn in September 13, 2002, as the 15th Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...

. Her commission as FAA Administrator ended on September 13, 2007. In October 2007, the White House indicated they would nominate the acting administrator, Robert A. Sturgell
Robert A. Sturgell
Robert A. Sturgell is a former Acting Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration , having served from September 14, 2007 to January 15, 2009. Appointed to the position on September 14, 2007 by President George W. Bush, he was never confirmed by the United States Senate...

, as her replacement. He had been deputy FAA administrator since 2003.

In 2007, Blakey described the current National Airspace System
National Airspace System
The National Airspace System of the United States is one of the most complex aviation systems in the world — consisting of thousands of people, procedures, facilities, and pieces of equipment — that enables safe and expeditious air travel in the United States and over large portions of the world's...

 saying, "We are at a breaking point," and throughout her tenure she pushed for the Next Generation Air Transportation System
Next Generation Air Transportation System
The Next Generation Air Transportation System is the name given to a new National Airspace System due for implementation across the United States in stages between 2012 and 2025. The...

, said to improve future air traffic capacity. It was to be funded by a controversial new FAA funding structure based on user fees, but in 2007 Congress instead opted to fund the program by increasing the tax on general-aviation jet fuel.

The FAA declared an impasse over contract negotiations and imposed work rules including partial pay caps for veteran controllers and an alternative, lower pay scale for new hires on the air traffic controller workforce, represented by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
National Air Traffic Controllers Association
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association is a labor union in the United States. It is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, and is the exclusive bargaining representative for air traffic controllers employed by the Federal Aviation Administration...

 (NATCA). The five-year labor contract in dispute was imposed on Labor Day
Labor Day
Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...

 in 2006 after Congress failed to intervene. The FAA thus imposed a unilateral reduction in pay scale of approximately 30 percent on active air traffic controllers only—all other FAA employees, including air traffic staff (those air traffic employees not directly involved in the control of air traffic) and supervisors/management retained their pay scales. The following year the Federal Labor Relations Authority
Federal Labor Relations Authority
The Federal Labor Relations Authority is an independent agency of the United States government that governs labor relations between the federal government and its employees....

 ruled against NATCA's 2006 grievance. In 2006, Blakey said the agency's final proposal would result in current controllers earning an average of $187,000 a year in pay and benefits after five-years, up from the current $166,000 average. NATCA disputed those figures, saying they included overtime needed because of staffing shortages.

In May 2006, she did not anticipate increased retirements saying, "I was very surprised that the union said that there would be retirements triggered under the current proposal." However, 828 controllers retired, exceeding the FAA's initial and revised forecasts. The FAA noted that the agency hired over 1,400 new air traffic controller trainees and employed 14,874 nationwide exceeding 2007's target. Trainees normally take three to five years to complete their training.

During Congressional testimony February 11, 2009, NATCA President Pat Forrey testified that 3,356 controllers left the active work force in the two years after the work rules were imposed by Blakey, and "Since the implementation of the imposed work rules, the FAA lost more than 46,000 years of air traffic control experience through retirements alone. Nearly one third (27 percent) of air traffic controllers in the FAA have less than five years experience, and 40 air traffic control facilities have more than half of its workforce composed of individuals with less than five years experience." http://www.natca.org/legislationcenter/testimony-detail.aspx?id=231

She became president and Chief Executive Officer of the industry trade association, Aerospace Industries Association, on Nov. 12, 2007.

External links

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