President Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as members of the AMTRAK Board of Directors:
- David Capozzi, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
- Anthony Coscia, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
- Christopher Koos, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
- Samuel Lathem, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
- Robin Wiessmann, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
David Capozzi, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
David Capozzi is a retired federal senior executive. He was the Executive Director of the U.S. Access Board from 2008-2020 and was the Director of the Board’s Office of Technical and Information Services from 1992-2008. Prior to joining the Access Board, Capozzi was Director of Project ACTION and Vice President of Advocacy for Easter Seals, and was the National Advocacy Director for the Paralyzed Veterans of America. He was a member of the legal team and lobbying captain for the disability community that helped craft the Americans with Disabilities Act. Capozzi was the lead negotiator on the Department of Transportation’s Federal Advisory Committee that negotiated proposed regulations implementing the Air Carrier Access Act, and chaired the Urban Mass Transportation Administration’s (UMTA) ADA Federal Advisory Committee.
Anthony Coscia, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
Anthony R. Coscia serves as Chairman of AMTRAK Board of Directors appointed to the Board by President Barack Obama in 2010 and reappointed in 2015. Coscia is a partner and Executive Committee member of Windels Marx, LLP one of the region’s oldest law firms and has for over 30 years worked on transactions in the finance, real estate, healthcare, and infrastructure areas. Coscia also serves as a Director of OceanFirst Financial Corp and the Neighborhood Property Group, LLC; Vice Chairman of the Gateway Development Commission; and Senior Advisor to Oaktree Transportation Infrastructure Fund, L.P. He previously served as Chairman of Suez North America Inc. and a Director of Suez SA. He recently served on New Jersey Governor Murphy’s Restart and Recovery Commission.
Christopher Koos, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
Mayor Chris Koos was elected to his first term on the Normal Town Council in April of 2001. He was sworn in as Mayor of the Town of Normal on February 17, 2003, and his current term runs until 2025. Koos has the longest running term of any mayor in Normal’s history. Koos is a Bloomington-Normal native, and attended Central Catholic High School and Illinois State University. He served his country in Vietnam as an Infantry Platoon Leader with the Army 101st Airborne/Airmobile Division. He served as Chairman of the Town of Normal Historic Preservation Commission for ten years, and during the restoration of the historic Normal Theater, served as Chair of the Restoration Advisory Committee and on the Normal Theater Advisory Board.
Samuel Lathem, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
Rev. Samuel E. Lathem was elected as the first African-American President of Delaware State AFL-CIO in October 2003. In 1965, Lathem began work at the Chrysler Plant in Newark, Delaware. He was elected and served two three-year terms as Chief Steward in the Body Shop at Newark Assembly Plant. He was appointed as Civil Rights Chairman of Local 1183 UAW. He was then assigned the position of Administrator of the UAW-Chrysler Training Center in 1990 and was promoted to an International Rep of the UAW in February 1999. Lathem was ordained a Baptist Preacher in 1992 at the First Baptist Church of Morton, Pennsylvania by the New Hope Baptist Association. He currently serves as Associate Minister at Cornerstone Fellowship Baptist Church in Wilmington, Delaware.
Robin Wiessmann, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
Robin Wiessmann is Executive Director and CEO of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA). As CEO of PHFA, she manages operations and directs initiatives that promote development of affordable rental housing, and provide financing for homeownership. Prior to PHFA, Wiessmann served as Secretary of Banking and Securities in the cabinet of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, and previously as State Treasurer of the Commonwealth. Wiessmann has devoted her career to both the private and public sectors. As a national infrastructure investment banker, Wiessmann was a Founding Principal and President of Artemis Capital Group, the first women-owned investment banking firm on Wall Street, and held positions at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. Wiessmann served as Chairman of the Board for Vantagepoint Funds Mutual Fund, an Act 40 company, on the Board of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, a self-regulatory organization under the SEC, and as a Board member of the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy. She chaired the Environmental Financing Advisory Board during the Clinton Administration.
-via Press Release