Deborah Hersman, who has been a member of the National Transportation Safety Board for the past fiveyears, has been sworn in as the Safety Board’s 12th chairman. Hersman was nominated for the two-year term as chairman by the While House last month and confirmed by the U.S,  Senate on July 24. She was also nominated and confirmed for a second five-year term as a board member, which runs through December 31, 2013. Hersman joined the NTSB on June 21, 2004. In 2006, she chaired a two-day public hearing investigating a fire on board UPS Airlines flight 1307.  She also chaired a three- day public hearing in June 2005 on a crash involving a regional jet in Jefferson City, Missouri. Before joining the NTSB, she was a senior professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation from 1999 to 2004.