WASHINGTON - Today, President Biden announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to serve as members of the AMTRAK Board of Directors:
- David Capozzi, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
- Anthony Coscia, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
- Christopher Koos, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
- Samuel Lathem, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
- Robin Wiessmann, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
David Capozzi, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
David Capozzi is a retired federal senior executive. He was the Executive Director of the U.S. Access Board from 2008-2020 and was the Director of the Board's Office of Technical and Information Services from 1992-2008. Prior to joining the Access Board, Capozzi was Director of Project ACTION and Vice President of Advocacy for Easter Seals, and was the National Advocacy Director for the Paralyzed Veterans of America. He was a member of the legal team and lobbying captain for the disability community that helped craft the Americans with Disabilities Act. Capozzi was the lead negotiator on the Department of Transportation's Federal Advisory Committee that negotiated proposed regulations implementing the Air Carrier Access Act, and chaired the Urban Mass Transportation Administration's (UMTA) ADA Federal Advisory Committee.
He received the 2020 Service to the Citizen Award and an award from the Zero Project recognizing his longstanding cooperative efforts with the European Commission to harmonize global ICT accessibility standards. Capozzi serves on the United Spinal Association's Board of Directors, Mobility Fitness' Advisory Committee, and Access Living's Program Committee. He is an Advisory Council Member for Morphic, and a Member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals Built Environment Taskforce. Capozzi graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo School of Law, and was an honors graduate and Phi Beta Kappa recipient at SUNY at Buffalo with an undergraduate degree in Psychology. He and his wife Patti live in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and are the proud parents of adult triplets and their older brother.
Anthony Coscia, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
Anthony R. Coscia serves as Chairman of AMTRAK Board of Directors appointed to the Board by President Barack Obama in 2010 and reappointed in 2015. Coscia is a partner and Executive Committee member of Windels Marx, LLP one of the region's oldest law firms and has for over 30 years worked on transactions in the finance, real estate, healthcare, and infrastructure areas. Coscia also serves as a Director of OceanFirst Financial Corp and the Neighborhood Property Group, LLC; Vice Chairman of the Gateway Development Commission; and Senior Advisor to Oaktree Transportation Infrastructure Fund, L.P. He previously served as Chairman of Suez North America Inc. and a Director of Suez SA. He recently served on New Jersey Governor Murphy's Restart and Recovery Commission.
Coscia was Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 2003 through January 2011 where he played a leadership role in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan after 9/11. From February 1992 to March 2003, Coscia served as Chairman of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. In addition, Coscia serves on the Board of Directors of Georgetown University, the New Jersey Community Development Corporation, and the Regional Plan Association. He is also a member of The Partnership for New York City and The Economic Club of New York. Coscia is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and received his J.D. degree from Rutgers University School of Law.
Christopher Koos, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
Mayor Chris Koos was elected to his first term on the Normal Town Council in April of 2001. He was sworn in as Mayor of the Town of Normal on February 17, 2003, and his current term runs until 2025. Koos has the longest running term of any mayor in Normal's history. Koos is a Bloomington-Normal native, and attended Central Catholic High School and Illinois State University. He served his country in Vietnam as an Infantry Platoon Leader with the Army 101st Airborne/Airmobile Division. He served as Chairman of the Town of Normal Historic Preservation Commission for ten years, and during the restoration of the historic Normal Theater, served as Chair of the Restoration Advisory Committee and on the Normal Theater Advisory Board.
During his tenure on the Town Council, Koos represented the Town on the Bloomington-Normal Area Convention and Visitors Bureau Committee, Economic Development Council, and Illinois Municipal League. He is also very involved with the Bloomington-Normal Japanese Sister Cities Committee. The expertise of Koos in urban development and transportation were provided in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee in 2014, and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on Transportation and Public Assets in 2016. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of Transportation for America and is Vice Chair for Passenger Rail with the US Conference of Mayors. During his tenure as the Chief Elected Official for the Town of Normal, development in the Central Business District included a Multimodal Transportation Center/City Hall, the Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, the Hyatt Place Hotel, the Children's Discovery Museum, and other major multi-use construction.
Samuel Lathem, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
Rev. Samuel E. Lathem was elected as the first African-American President of Delaware State AFL-CIO in October 2003, a position that he continues to hold today. In 1965, Lathem began work at the Chrysler Plant in Newark, Delaware. He was elected and served two three-year terms as Chief Steward in the Body Shop at Newark Assembly Plant. He was appointed as Civil Rights Chairman of Local 1183 UAW. He was then assigned the position of Administrator of the UAW-Chrysler Training Center in 1990 and was promoted to an International Rep of the UAW in February 1999. Lathem was ordained a Baptist Preacher in 1992 at the First Baptist Church of Morton, Pennsylvania by the New Hope Baptist Association. He currently serves as Associate Minister at Cornerstone Fellowship Baptist Church in Wilmington, Delaware.
Lathem's spiritual integrity and diligence to serve his church and community has earned him the privilege of honored appointments such as the following: by Governor Dale Wolf to serve on the Interagency Council on Literacy, and by Governor Carper to serve on the Board of Directors for the Diamond State Port Corporation (Port of Wilmington) and the Workforce Investment Board. Lathem also serves as Chairman of the Delaware Advisory Council on Career and Vocational Education, and was appointed by Governor Minner to serve as the first African-American Delaware Commissioner on the Board of Directors of the Delaware River Bay Authority. Lathem serves on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement, Kids Count Steering Committee, 4-H Foundation Committee, Board of Directors of SURJ (Stand Up for What's Right and Just), Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, and United Way of Delaware, and serves as a Member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists. Lathem is married to Jean Lathem, and has two stepsons and two grandsons.
Robin Wiessmann, Nominee for Member of the AMTRAK Board of Directors
Robin Wiessmann is Executive Director and CEO of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA). As CEO of PHFA, she manages operations and directs initiatives that promote development of affordable rental housing, and provide financing for homeownership. Prior to PHFA, Wiessmann served as Secretary of Banking and Securities in the cabinet of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, and previously as State Treasurer of the Commonwealth. Wiessmann has devoted her career to both the private and public sectors. As a national infrastructure investment banker, Wiessmann was a Founding Principal and President of Artemis Capital Group, the first women-owned investment banking firm on Wall Street, and held positions at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch. Wiessmann served as Chairman of the Board for Vantagepoint Funds Mutual Fund, an Act 40 company, on the Board of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, a self-regulatory organization under the SEC, and as a Board member of the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy. She chaired the Environmental Financing Advisory Board during the Clinton Administration.
Wiessmann is Secretary/Treasurer of the National Council of State Housing Agencies and is on the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Economic and Community Advisory Council. She served as Secretary of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and Chair of the Non-Depository Committee, and served multiple other economic development, policy, and supervisory boards, including the Public School and State Employees' Retirement Systems and the Investor Protection Trust. She is a recipient of the Arthur E. Armitage, Sr. Distinguished Alumni Award from Rutgers Law School and is a graduate of Lafayette College.
