Debra L. "Deb" Miller was the vice chair of the

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is a federal, bipartisan, independent adjudicatory board. The STB was established on January 1, 1996, to assume some of the regulatory functions that had been administered by the Intersta ...

. She previously served as the Kansas Secretary of Transportation under three successive

Governors of Kansas The governor of Kansas is the head of state of KansasKS Const. art. I, § 3. and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Kan ...

between 2003 and 2011. She is Kansas' first female and longest-serving secretary of transportation. After her tenure, she joined transportation policy firm Cambridge Systematics, Inc. as a senior consultant in January 2012. She was nominated to the Surface Transportation Board by

President Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

on September 25, 2013, and confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on April 9, 2014. Her term expired on December 31, 2017.

Early life and career

Miller was born on December 25, 1956, in

Parsons, Kansas Parsons is a city in Labette County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 9,600. It is the most populous city of Labette County, and the second-most populous city in the southeastern region of Kansas. ...

. She graduated ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

'' from

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

in 1976 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

. Prior to her appointment as secretary, she was a consultant at

HNTB HNTB Corporation is an American infrastructure design firm. Founded in 1914 in Kansas City, Missouri, HNTB began with the partnership made by Ernest Emmanuel Howard with the firm Waddell & Harrington, founded in 1907. Considered as one of the m ...

. In addition, she served as director of KDOT's Division of Planning and Development, as a special assistant to the Secretary of Transportation, and as a policy advisor to the Governor of Kansas.

Kansas Secretary of Transportation

Miller was appointed by Governor Kathleen Sebelius, as the first woman to lead KDOT and its more than 3,200 employees. During her tenure, Kansas passed T‑WORKS, an $8 billion, 10-year transportation program meant to create jobs throughout Kansas by funding highway preservation and capacity improvements, continuing the focus on safety improvements, and increasing investments in aviation, rail, and public transportation. Governor Sam Brownback retained Miller as Secretary of Transportation in his administration until her departure in 2011.

Surface Transportation Board

On September 25, 2013,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

nominated Miller to fill the vacancy of Francis P. Mulvey on the

, an agency tasked with resolving railroad rate and service disputes. She was confirmed by the

on April 9, 2014. Miller was sworn in on April 28 as the 12th member of the board since its creation in 1996. From January 7, 2016, she served as vice chair of the board. Her term expired on December 31, 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Deb Living people State cabinet secretaries of Kansas 1956 births People from Parsons, Kansas Kansas State University alumni Kansas Democrats