Biden to Nominate Indian Americans Meera Joshi, Radhika Fox to Climate and Transportation Posts
Meera Joshiwas chair and CEO of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. (nyu.edu photo)
India-West Staff Reporter
The White House April 14 said that President Joe Biden announced his intention to nominate 10 members of his administration, including Indian Americans Meera Joshi and Radhika Fox, to lead on climate and transportation matters across key agencies.
Joshi has been tapped to be the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the Department of Transportation; and Fox for Assistant Administrator for the Water, Environmental Protection Agency.
Joshi was appointed as the deputy administrator and senior official of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Jan. 20.
She is an attorney with over 16 years of experience leading government oversight agencies. She was chair and CEO of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, the nation’s largest for-hire transportation regulator where she spearheaded novel Vision Zero campaigns using data tools to keep high risk drivers and unsafe vehicles off the road, her bio notes.
Joshi also led landmark policy, including establishing robust open transportation data standards for app-based providers; enacting the nation’s first for-hire driver pay protection program and providing broad access to for-hire transportation for passengers who use wheelchairs, it said.
Prior to transportation regulation, Joshi was the inspector general for New York City’s Department of Corrections, responsible for investigation of corruption and criminality at all levels of New York City’s jail operations and the first deputy executive director of New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, leading investigations of police misconduct, her bio adds.
In addition to her government positions, she served as general manager for the New York Office of Sam Schwartz Transportation Consultants, and was a visiting scholar at New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation Policy.
She was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and holds a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Fox was appointed by Biden on Jan. 20 to the position of principal deputy assistant administrator for Water at the Environmental Protection Agency. She currently serves as the acting assistant administrator for Water, her bio says.
The EPA’s Office of Water works to ensure that drinking water is safe, wastewater is safely returned to the environment, and surface waters are properly managed and protected, it said.
Prior to joining EPA, Fox served as CEO for the U.S. Water Alliance, where she established herself as a widely recognized national thought leader on complex water issues, from equitable water management to investing in our nation’s water infrastructure.
Her work has helped address the most salient water issues facing the nation—including climate change, affordability, equity, governance, innovative finance, and the evolution of the One Water movement, the bio said.
Fox previously directed the policy and government affairs agenda for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which is responsible for providing 24/7 water, wastewater and municipal power services to 2.6 million Bay Area residents, it adds.
She also served as the federal policy director at PolicyLink, where she coordinated the organization’s policy agenda on a wide range of issues, including infrastructure investment, transportation, sustainable communities, economic inclusion and workforce development, the bio continued.
Fox holds a B.A. from Columbia University and a master’s in city and regional planning from U.C. Berkeley where she was a HUD Community Development Fellow.
