For nearly four decades now, Michael P. Huerta has served in a wide range of high-ranking transportation roles. In a 2011 speech at the National Hispanic Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees Annual Training Conference, Huerta addressed not only those professional achievements but also the prejudicial treatment he sometimes encountered early on in life as a person of Latino descent. “Now looking back, years later, I do know that certain experiences were unfair or discriminatory,” he stated during that speech.
In an interview appearing on the website for the School of Public Policy at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), Huerta elaborated further on his overall approach to the large-scale issues and challenges he has dealt with throughout his career in transportation. “I am a big fan of collaboration to address big problems,” he asserted in that interview. “My career has been defined by finding ways to foster collaboration between the government and the private sector, between regulators and the companies they regulate, and diverse political interests. The beauty of this approach is that it works.”
Huerta was born in Riverside on November 18, 1956. His parents were Solomon and Della Huerta. Michael Huerta graduated from UCR in 1978 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science. He went on to earn a master of public administration degree in international relations at Princeton University in 1980.
In 1986, Huerta began his service as the commissioner of New York City’s Department of Ports, International Trade and Commerce (now known as the Department of Ports and Trade). He remained in this position until 1989, when he became executive director of the Port of San Francisco. He left this agency in 1993 to work at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT).
During his first tour of duty at that department, Huerta served in key roles under Federico Peña, USDOT secretary from 1993 to 1997; and Rodney E. Slater, USDOT secretary between 1997 and 2001. Huerta was both director of the USDOT Office of Intermodalism and associate deputy secretary throughout Peña’s tenure; and chief of staff to Slater until 1998.
Huerta’s subsequent roles included working on intelligent transportation services as vice president of marketing and business development at Lockheed Martin; and focusing on freight and intermodal transportation priorities as a principal at Cambridge Systematics. He was also a managing director for the vast web of transportation operations put in place for the 2002 Winter Olympics in and around Salt Lake City. As part of those responsibilities, he also coordinated the transportation logistics for the Olympic flame during its long journey from Athens, Greece, to the capital of Utah. Huerta then worked at Affiliated Computer Services from 2002 to 2009 as president of that company’s Transportation Solutions Group.
Huerta returned to federal government service in 2010 as deputy administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He took over as FAA’s interim administrator starting in 2011. He served in that capacity until 2013 when he was appointed as that agency’s administrator by President Barack Obama. Huerta became only as the second person of Hispanic descent to serve in this position. The first person had been Elwood Richard “Pete” Quesada, who was named the first administrator of FAA (originally called the Federal Aviation Agency) in 1958.
Huerta remained FAA administrator until 2018. In addition, he was acting USDOT secretary for the 11 days in January 2017 between Donald Trump’s inauguration as president and the Senate confirmation of Elaine Chao as the new secretary.
In the time since leaving FAA, Huerta has continued his engagement in key transportation issues as a senior advisor for Macquarie Capital in New York City; and president of MPH Consulting, LLC, in Park City, Utah. He is also on the boards of directors of Delta Air Lines; Joby Aviation; and Verra Mobility Corporation.
“Where others might see thorny, intractable problems, I see opportunity: to dig into the details, bring stakeholders together, and find common ground,” Huerta has noted in his LinkedIn profile. “Whether I was overseeing the modernization of the U.S. air traffic control system, figuring out how to manage the transportation demands of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, or building consensus around the future of the Port of San Francisco, I’ve found innovative ways to assess and manage risk, balance competing interests, and create tangible solutions that improve people’s lives.”
Photo Credit: Public Domain
For more information on Michael P. Huerta, please check out https://ir.delta.com/governance/person-details/default.aspx?ItemId=be66bc72-5709-44e8-8a78-b4a0e5fcdf1c and https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-112shrg78392/html/CHRG-112shrg78392.htm
Transportation History 
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