COMMISSIONERS
Christopher Hart (District of Columbia), Chair
Mr. Hart is chair of the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission. Mr. Hart has extensive experience working on transportation and transportation safety issues in both the public and private sectors. He served as an attorney for the Air Transport Association of America, as an associate attorney for the law firms Peabody, Rivlin, Lambert, & Meyers and Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin, and as a managing partner for the law firm Hart & Chavers. He also served as the Deputy Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Administration and Assistant Administrator for System Safety and Deputy Director of the Air Traffic Safety Oversight Service at the Federal Aviation Administration. Mr. Hart served two terms as a member of the National Transportation Safety Board from 1990 to 1993 and 2009 to January 2018. He served as chairman of the NTSB from 2014 to 2017. Mr. Hart earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and a Master of Science in Engineering from Princeton University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.
Debra Farrar-Dyke (State of Maryland), Secretary-Treasurer
Ms. Farrar-Dyke is Secretary-Treasurer of the WMSC. Ms. Farrar-Dyke is a senior manager with over 30 years of successful, progressive leadership in transportation and procurement management. Ms. Farrar-Dyke also serves as a Commissioner on the Maryland Transportation Commission. Previously Ms. Farrar-Dyke was responsible for the Disadvantaged Business and Small Business Programs at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). She also led oversight of operating and capital budgets preparation and implementation at WMATA.
Robert Lauby (Commonwealth of Virginia)
Mr. Lauby is the former Associate Administrator for Railroad Safety and Chief Safety Officer for the Federal Railroad Administration and is currently an independent consultant with RCL Rail Safety Consulting, LLC. He is a licensed mechanical engineer with more than 40 years of railroad and rail transit experience involving safety, security, accident investigation, and engineering. Mr. Lauby’s career included positions at the National Transportation Safety Board, Knorr Brake Corporation (a railroad and rail transit brake supplier), and Conrail. He has led safety regulation initiatives and safety oversight programs, has been involved in the development of passenger rail safety standards, and has conducted railroad and rail transit accident investigations worldwide.
Robert Bobb (District of Columbia)
Mr. Bobb earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Grambling State University and a Master of Science degree in Business from Western Michigan University. He furthered his education by earning a Certificate for Senior Executives in State and Local Governments from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Mr. Bobb is known as a turnaround specialist and has served as emergency financial manager of Detroit Public Schools and as city administrator for the District of Columbia, among many positions.
Suhair Al Khatib (State of Maryland)
Mr. Al Khatib is a KCI Practice Leader for Transit, with expertise in capital programs, maintenance and regulations. He previously worked at the Maryland Department of Transportation for more than 30 years, rising from a scheduling engineer on Baltimore’s Light Rail to capital program manager for the Maryland Transportation Authority and deputy administrator and chief planning, program and engineering officer at the Maryland Transit Administration.
Devin C. Rouse (Commonwealth of Virginia)
Devin Rouse is the owner of DCRail Advisory, providing consulting services to passenger railroads, public transit agencies, and railroad industry executives. He is the former Executive Officer of the Office of Railroad Systems, Technology & Innovation, and the former Director of the Passenger Rail Division within the Federal Railroad Administration’s Office of Railroad Safety. He has served as a principal subject matter expert in areas related to passenger rail safety, passenger rail equipment, Positive Train Control (PTC) and emerging technologies, high-speed rail, and the development and construction of new railroads. He previously served on the Board of Directors of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), as well as FRA’s Railroad Safety Board, and chaired the Railroad Safety Advisory Committee’s Passenger Safety Working Group (PSWG) and Engineering Task Force (ETF). Mr. Rouse is a registered Professional Engineer in Virginia. He holds a master’s degree in Civil and Transportation Engineering, and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech.