Stephanie Pratt is coordinator of the NIOSH motor vehicle safety research program. She also coordinates planning of NIOSH research for the transportation, warehousing, and utilities industry sector. Ms. Pratt is principal investigator for the project “Risk Factors for Vehicle Crashes among Public Employees,” which is examining motor vehicle crash experience among state department of transportation employees and active duty military personnel.

She is the NIOSH representative to several organizations interested in occupational road safety, and has prepared numerous NIOSH policy responses related to road safety. She has also authored publications on young worker safety and highway work zone safety. Before joining NIOSH in 1993, Ms. Pratt managed the census data center in the West Virginia University School of Medicine.

Ms. Pratt holds a Bachelor’s degree in applied music and Master’s degrees in applied music and applied social research from West Virginia University. She represents NIOSH on the NETS (Network of Employers for Traffic Safety) Board of Directors.

He has been involved in human factors research to improve safety by understanding how driver performance can be influenced by vehicle design. This research has focused on such areas as vehicle lighting, vehicle visibility systems, advanced driver assistance systems, and driver distraction.

Charles Farmer is the Director of Statistical Services for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). During his 11 years at the Institute, he has authored studies on all aspects of traffic safety. His research includes work on the safety effects of enhanced vehicle technology, regulation and refinement of driver behavior and roadway design.

IIHS is an independent, nonprofit, scientific and educational organization dedicated to reducing the losses — deaths, injuries, and property damage — from crashes on the nation's highways.
Dr. Farmer holds a PhD in Statistics from Iowa State University.

Dr. Yantis received the Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association in 1994 and the Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences in 1996.

Ms. Konicki is the director of associate safety for Nationwide Insurance. She joined Nationwide in 1998 and works closely with Nationwide’s Fleet Administration and Risk Management offices to control the potential liabilities associated with approximately 5,800 company drivers. Ms. Konicki designed and implemented a fleet safety program for Nationwide’s employee drivers that has significantly reduced the human and financial consequences of traffic crashes. She continues to design and implement refinements to Nationwide programs that encourage all employees to adopt safe driving habits.

Before joining Nationwide, Ms. Konicki was the president of her own environmental, health and safety consulting business, Meridian Associates, Inc. Prior to that, she was the vice president for more than ten years of a large, multinational engineering and consulting firm. She has a total of over 25 years of experience in the environmental, health and safety arena.

Kathy earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology/Chemistry from Bowling Green State University and her Master of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Dayton.

Ms. Konicki currently serves as the Chairwoman, NETS Board of Directors.

Peter Petesch, a partner with the Washington, D.C. office of the management-side labor law firm Ford & Harrison LLP, represents a wide variety of businesses in labor and employment matters. He counsels employers on problem-solving and employment policy matters, litigates employment and labor cases, and negotiates collective bargaining agreements. Mr. Petesch also teaches employment law to both human resource professionals and attorneys in continuing legal education courses.

He was counsel for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) on SHRM’s amicus briefs in four landmark Supreme Court American Disability Act (ADA) cases: Sutton v. United Air Lines, Murphy v. United Parcel Service, US Airways v. Barnett, and Chevron USA, Inc. v. Echazabal. He also appeared on behalf of SHRM as amicus curiae in Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing, Inc., another employment case. He received a 1997 National Business and Labor Award for Leadership on HIV/AIDS from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and served as Co-Chair to the Business Partners Board for the CDC’s Business Responds to AIDS program. He remains an active member of the CDC Board.

Mr. Petesch has published numerous articles on ADA and other employment issues in HR Magazine, Mosaics, and HR Legal Report, and often appeared on SHRM’s HR Newsscan. Mr. Petesch has been interviewed and published on the Americans with Disabilities Act and other employment law issues on PBS, ABC, CNBC, CNN, National Public Radio, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, Business Week, HR Magazine, HR News, BNA Daily Labor Report, Money, Workforce, and the business sections of newspapers nationwide. He is also on the editorial advisory board for Thompson Publications’ ADA Compliance Guide and Leave & Disability Coordination Handbook.

Dave Melton is responsible at the corporate level for developing and supporting transportation related safety and health products and consulting services. He advocates and participates in transportation-related research projects at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety.

Mr. Melton has held numerous positions in both field and executive management and senior technical roles. His 36-year career with Liberty Mutual has moved him frequently throughout the United States and Canada.

Mr. Melton represents Liberty Mutual on the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS) where he is on the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors. He was recently elected Vice Chairman of the NETS Board of Directors, and beginning February 2006 he will lead NETS as Chairman.

He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI). He was Chairman of the Board, Elect, of the Texas Safety Association and served on the Board of Directors.

Mr. Melton has received an appointment to the permanent Committee on Truck and Bus Safety, A3B57, of the Transportation Research Board, National Academy of Sciences & Engineering. He also represents NETS on the ANSI Z-15 Accredited Standards Committee on Safety Requirements for Motor Vehicle Fleet Operations.

Mr. Melton holds an A.B. degree from Eastern Kentucky University. He is a Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) and a Certified Director of Safety (CDS).

Schuster holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Brooklyn College and has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Colorado, where he majored in Transportation Management.

Mary Jane McNicholas Dobbs
Counsel
Marcus, Brody, Ford, Kessler & Sahner, L.L.C

Ms. Dobbs is a graduate of the University of Dayton, Ohio and a graduate of Rutgers Law School.

Tom Walsh currently serves as the President for Safety Cost Improvement, LLC.

Previously, Mr. Walsh was the UPS Corporate Health and Safety Director Worldwide. In this position, he devised and implemented a process improvement strategy that reduced injury frequencies by more than 50 percent.

In his 31-year career with UPS, Mr. Walsh also served as a Human Resources Manager and as an Operations Division Manager in locations throughout the United States. From 1990 to 1995, Mr. Walsh was the Director of Human Resources for UPS Europe. In addition, he was also a key member of various UPS corporate committees including the Intranet Strategy Committee, Information Technology Strategy Committee, and the Human Resources Strategy Committee.

Mr. Walsh was Chairman of the NETS (Network of Employers for Traffic Safety) Board of Directors from 1998 to 2001. Currently, he is the Chairman of the Board Advisory Committee

Mr. Walsh earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a Masters degree in Psychology from Boston College.

Jay Minotas is the Manager of General Motors’ (GM) Safe Driving Program headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. He began his career at GM 28 years ago and has worked in the company’s safety arena for the past 17 years.

After assignments with Chevrolet, GM overseas, and Saturn, in 1995, Mr. Minotas helped create GM’s Safe Driving Program and has been the Manager since the program’s inception. The goal of GM’s Safe Driving Program is to eliminate vehicle-related deaths and injuries among GM’s company vehicle drivers and their family members.

The GM Safe Driving Program has been recognized for its outstanding work in employee traffic safety by the Michigan Center for Truck Safety, the Michigan State Safety Commission, the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center and the U.S. Marines.

Mr. Minotas is a founding member of NETS and currently serves as the Finance Chair on the NETS Board of Directors. He is also an active member of the Michigan NETS Advisory Board, the National Safety Council’s Highway Traffic Safety Division, and the American Driver Traffic Safety Education Association.