SAN FRANCISCO Mark V. Rosenker, the sometimes out-spoken chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, will be a featured speaker at UMA Motorcoach Expo 2008 here next month.

Rosenker became the 11th chairman of the NTSB, the federal government's transportation accident investigative arm, in August 2006. He had been serving as acting chairman since March 2005. His two-year term as chairman runs until next August.

He joined the NTSB board in March 2003, and is in his second term, which expires at the end of 2010.

During his four-plus years on the board, Rosenker has become very familiar with motorcoach-related safety issues.

Earlier this year, he chaired the NTSB investigative hearing on the Hurricane Rita bus fire that killed 23 infirm nursing home residents. (See March 15 Bus & Motorcoach News.)

During that hearing and afterwards, Rosenker was highly critical of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, saying the agency's failures directly led to the September 2005 bus fire tragedy.

He also has testified before Congress on motorcoach safety. (See April 1 Bus & Motorcoach News.)

Rosenker has a diverse professional background. He is a former deputy assistant to the president and director of the White House Military Office, and a retired major general in the Air Force Reserve.

His interest and experience in transportation safety dates back more than three decades to his time at a major national public affairs organization. His clients there included the American Safety Belt Council, the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and the Safety Helmet Council of America.

Mr. Rosenker's also served at the U.S. Department of Interior, the Federal Trade Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.