Lisandra Garay-Vega, Ph.D.
Transportation Safety Specialist / Division Chief
Office of Highway Safety
National Transportation Safety Board
Dr. Lisandra Garay-Vega is a Division Chief in the Office of Highway Safety at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) – an independent Federal agency that investigates significant crashes in all modes of transportation, determines the probable cause, and issues safety recommendations to help prevent recurrences. Her division is responsible for researching national highway safety issues and managing the development of crash investigation reports and safety recommendations. She exercises quality control for written products ensuring that investigative reports are technically sound, that findings and recommendations are supported by analysis, and that reports use adequate logic, organization, and structure.
Before joining the NTSB, she worked at the U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Office of Crash Avoidance Standards as a supervisory general engineer. At NHTSA, she led the strategic and operational activities of the Vehicle Dynamics Division towards the development and production of standards, regulations, policy, and guidelines for the safe and efficient use of motor vehicles in the United States. Areas of responsibility included Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for tires, brakes, and stability control systems. Her work also included emerging technologies including advanced driver assistance systems and automated vehicles. She received the Secretary's [of Transportation] Partnership for Excellent Award for outstanding work in implementing the President's Regulatory Reform Agenda.
Previous roles include highway accident investigator and project manager at the NTSB's Office of Highway Safety, senior research engineer at NHTSA's Office of Crash Avoidance Research, and research engineer at the U.S. Department of Transportation's Volpe Center. Her research work focused on advanced vehicle safety systems, with emphasis on human factors and engineering integration issues.
Dr. Garay-Vega has authored several research articles published in peer-reviewed journals and has presented at professional conferences and international working groups. She earned her MS and PhD in civil engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (UMass), and a BS degree in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez. In 2015, she was recognized with an Outstanding Alumni Award; recipients of this award are “worthy ambassadors for the UMass Amherst College of Engineering and have shown extraordinary effort and notable success in their early careers."
Dr. Garay-Vega is committed to leadership excellence in the public sector, advancing transportation innovation, and serving as a mentor to promote careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Cyndi Lake, MPH, CEM®
Division Chief
Office of Occupational Safety & Health
National Transportation Safety Board
Cyndi Lake serves as the Chief of the Occupational Safety and Health Division for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). In this role, she manages the agency's comprehensive safety and health program which includes ensuring safety programs are in compliance with program laws, regulations, guidelines and agency policy; establishing safety program goals; advising leadership and employees on safe work practices; conducting agency-wide hazard risk assessments for agency work both in an office environment and at accident scenes; and monitoring the performance of various safety and health programs.
Cyndi began her career at the NTSB in January of 2018 working in the agency's family assistance division as an Emergency Operations Coordinator, providing expertise in emergency management, public health, hospitals and public safety related to mass casualty incidents. During her tenure in family assistance, she launched 12 NTSB accident investigations involving all five modes of transportation (aviation, rail, highway, marine and pipeline) in which she served as the NTSB's primary representative responsible for coordinating family assistance operations along with local, state and federal partners. In addition, she managed over 100 cases with responsibility for coordinating family assistance operations to both family members of fatalities and survivors involving over 600 family contacts. In this role, Cyndi also served as the primary liaison for healthcare partners and conducted outreach to a variety of family assistance response partners all over the United States.
Before joining the Board, Cyndi was the Director of Safety, Security and Emergency Management for Inova Alexandria Hospital, where she served as the hospital safety officer and the primary liaison for law enforcement, fire/EMS, and public health. She was also responsible for Spiritual Care, comprised of over 30 chaplain volunteers, and Volunteer Services.
Cyndi chaired the Alexandria Healthcare Coalition, a role she held from 2009–2017 when the coalition began as a health department initiative to bring together healthcare facilities and providers along with public safety to build relationships and improve emergency preparedness and response. As the coalition expanded to broader healthcare issues, Cyndi was an integral part of the establishment of a Crisis Intervention Team Assessment Center in the hospital emergency department. Cyndi capitalized on these partnerships with the Alexandria Community Services Board and Alexandria Police to ensure the best outcome for patients with mental illness and also to reduce workplace violence in the hospital. As part of these efforts, Cyndi completed the 40 hour Crisis Intervention Team training and became certified as a Mental Health First Aid instructor as part of an initiative to train all hospital staff.
Prior to joining Inova in late 2014, Cyndi was the Emergency Management Coordinator for the Alexandria Health Department (AHD), where she was responsible for all public health emergencies, including developing, maintaining and exercising district plans for responding to acts of bioterrorism, infectious disease outbreaks and other public health emergency threats. In addition to oversight of the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) program, she was responsible for ensuring all health department staff and volunteers were trained and prepared for public health emergencies. She served on the health department leadership team and also served as the department's public information officer. Cyndi started her emergency management career at the health department as the MRC Coordinator for the Alexandria MRC, a volunteer program that provides support in public health emergencies. In that position, she recruited, managed and trained volunteers while conducting education and outreach in the City of Alexandra on emergency preparedness.
Cyndi is a Certified Emergency Manager and obtained her Masters of Public Health from the George Washington University with a concentration in Environmental and Occupational Health, and a Certificate in Emergency Management and Public Health.
Cyndi has been an active member of the Alexandria Volunteer Fire Department since 2007 as an EMT-Basic and served on the Board of Directors for Volunteer Alexandria for three years (2013–2016). She is also a former member of the National Capital Region Incident Management Team, a Type II Incident Management Team.
Dana Schulze
Managing Director
National Transportation Safety Board
Dana Schulze is the Managing Director of the National Transportation Safety Board overseeing all investigations and agency operations. Previously, Ms. Schulz served as the Director of the Office of Aviation Safety. She began her career with the Safety Board in 2002 as an Aircraft System Safety Engineer in the Aviation Engineering Division and served as a Group Chairman and investigator on numerous major domestic and international airline accident investigations, including Alaska Airlines flight 261, Pinnacle Airlines flight 3701, and American Airlines flight 587. In 2006, Ms. Schulze became Chief of the Aviation Engineering Division, which is responsible for investigating the airworthiness of aircraft involved in major aviation accidents and serious incidents. Ms. Schulze later served as the Chief of the Major Investigations Division where she oversaw more than a dozen major airline accident investigations, including the investigation of US Airways flight 1549 in Weehawken, New Jersey and Colgan Air flight 3407 in Clarence Center, New York and subsequently as Deputy Director, leading the organization's execution of air carrier investigations and safety initiatives as well as the development of emergent programs for unmanned aircraft systems and commercial space accident investigation.
Prior to joining the NTSB, Ms. Schulze worked in the commercial aerospace industry in staff engineering and engineering management roles related to design, system safety, reliability, and quality. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Space Sciences and Mechanical Engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the State University of New York. Ms. Schulze is also a recipient of the Distinguished Presidential Rank Award, which recognizes a select group of career members of the United States Government Senior Executive Service (SES) for sustained extraordinary accomplishments on a national or international level.
Sathya Silva, Ph.D.
Senior Aviation Accident Investigator
Office of Aviation Safety
National Transportation Safety Board
Sathya Silva is a Senior Aviation Accident Investigator and Investigator-in-Charge for the Air Carrier and Space Investigations Division at the National Transportation Safety Board. Within this role, she leads major aircraft accident investigations and manages a team of NTSB subject matter experts, international partners, and industry experts to successfully conduct an investigation, develop safety recommendations, and present findings to the public. Prior to this position, Sathya served within the agency as a Senior Human Performance Investigator in the Office of Aviation Safety. She graduated in 2016 from MIT with a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a focus in human factors. She has worked with various aerospace organizations including NASA, Boeing, and the FAA. Sathya is also a pilot and flight instructor and holds over 1200 hours of flight time.
Leah Walton
Transportation Safety Advocate
Office of Safety Advocacy
National Transportation Safety Board
Leah Walton is a Safety Advocate for the National Transportation Safety Board.
Leah began her career in 2001, as the Youth Program Manager for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) working on underage drinking prevention programs at the state and national levels.
In 2006, Leah became a part of the federal workforce as a Highway Safety Specialist for NHTSA, managing pedestrian, school bus, and impaired driving programs.
Leah joined NTSB in the Office of Safety Recommendations and Communications, Safety Advocacy Division in 2016. Leah works on promoting NTSB's safety recommendations and advocating on behalf of the NTSB Most Wanted List. She leads the advocacy efforts on reducing impairment in transportation, speeding on roadways, and vulnerable road user safety.