Government/Industry Meeting

Lawrence D. Burns, Ph.D, is a business advisor and author of “Autonomy: The Quest to Build the Driverless Car and How it Will Reshape Our World.” He advises organizations on the future of mobility, logistics, manufacturing, energy, and innovation. His current clients include Waymo, Peloton Technology, and Kitson & Partners. Burns served as General Motors Corporate Vice President of Research & Development and Planning from 1998-2009. From 1988-1997, he held wide range of leadership positions in GM operations, including industrial engineering, quality, production control, product/manufacturing/business planning, and product program management. Between 2010 and 2016, Burns was Professor of Engineering Practice at the University of Michigan, Director of the Program for Sustainable Mobility at Columbia University, and an advisor to several major companies. His newest book, "Autonomy: The Quest to Build The Driverless Car—And How It Will Reshape Our World" was published by Ecco/HarperCollins in August 2018. Burns earned a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, a master's in engineering/public policy from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from the General Motors Institute.

For more than 20 years, Amy Walter has built a reputation as an accurate, objective, and insightful political analyst with unparalleled access to campaign insiders and decision-makers. She is national editor of the non-partisan Cook Political Report and a frequent on-air analyst. In addition to her weekly appearance on the “Politics Monday” segment of PBS NewsHour, Walter also hosts WNYC's nationally syndicated public radio news program, The Takeaway Fridays. She is also a regular panelist on NBC’s Meet the Press and CBS’ Face The Nation, and appears frequently on Special Report with Bret Baier on FOX. She is the former political director of ABC News. Before ABC, she was editor-in-chief of The Hotline, where she served as the political publication’s primary voice for three years, and she provided regular analysis of the national political environment in her weekly National Journal column, "On the Trail." Walter graduated summa cum laude from Colby College. She was also honored by her alma mater her with an honorary Ph.D. and is as a Trustee Emeritus.

Heidi King is the Deputy Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. She comes to NHTSA with extensive experience in public safety, innovation, risk management, evidence-based decision making, and law enforcement. An economist and research scientist by training, King parlayed degrees from California Institute of Technology and University of California, Irvine, and her early experience as a California State Park Ranger into a distinguished career in both government and the private sector. Her work at Telcordia Technologies fueled a life-long passion for research innovation and the ability to anticipate and foster technological progress. Areas of particular interest include cybersecurity and the development of automated driving systems. King served as a Regulatory Policy Analyst in the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from 1998 to 2000 and from 2007 to 2011. During her years at OMB and two years as Chief Economist on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, she became familiar with NHTSA and the agency’s work on Corporate Average Fuel Economy.