Joseph H. Boardman

Joseph H. Boardman is the president of Amtrak and formerly Administrator of the United States Federal Railroad Administration.

He was nominated by President George W. Bush on March 17, 2005, and confirmed by the United States Senate on April 28, 2005. He was the eleventh Federal Railroad Administrator. As Administrator, Mr. Boardman was responsible for overseeing all aspects of operations for the nearly eight hundred-person organization. This includes managing comprehensive safety programs and regulatory initiatives; enforcement of FRA safety regulations; development and implementation of national freight and passenger rail policy; and oversight of diverse research and development activities in support of improved railroad safety.

Mr. Boardman served as the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) since July 1997 and led a major transformation effort that has better enabled the agency to respond to the challenges associated with an ever-expanding global marketplace. He has served in the transportation industry for nearly thirty years with experience in city, county and State government. In addition, he owned his own transportation management company. Most recently, he was chairman of the Executive Committee of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and Chair of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' (AASHTO) Standing Committee on Rail Transportation (SCORT).

On November 25, 2008, the Board of Directors for Amtrak announced they had appointed Boardman to a one-year term as President and CEO of the railway to replace outgoing president Alexander Kummant. In January 2010, Amtrak announced that they had extended Boardman's appointment indefinitely.

Mr. Boardman is a lifelong resident of New York State, and is the second of eight children born and raised on a dairy farm in Oneida County which two of his siblings currently operate. In 1966, he volunteered for military service in the United States Air Force, serving in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. Upon receiving an honorable discharge from the Air Force, he received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture Economics from Cornell University, and a Master of Science Degree in Management Science from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He presently resides with his wife Joanne in Washington, D.C. and has three grown children who reside in Rome, New York.