FOR RELEASE	Contact: Dennis Watson
04/04/2000 (Tuesday)	(202) 565-1596
No. 00-20	FIRS 1 (800) 877-8339
	www.stb.gov

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD APPOINTS ELLEN D. HANSON AS ITS GENERAL COUNSEL

Surface Transportation Board (Board) Chairman Linda J. Morgan announced that Ellen D. Hanson has been named General Counsel of the Board, effective today. Ms. Hanson has been an attorney with the Surface Transportation Board and its predecessor, the Interstate Commerce Commission, since 1975. She has served as the Deputy General Counsel since 1994, and in other managerial positions in the General Counsel's Office since 1981. Prior to that, she was in the Office of Proceedings, Finance Section, which she headed in 1980-1981.

In making the announcement, Chairman Morgan stated: "It is a great pleasure to be able to announce the appointment of such a well-qualified attorney as the first female general counsel of the Board or its predecessor, the ICC."

Ms. Hanson has received various awards, including the Outstanding Government Service Award from the American Bar Association, Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice, in 1995. Ms. Hanson is a founding member of the Women's Transportation Seminar and a past president of its Washington, DC chapter.

Ms. Hanson received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University in 1971 and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of North Carolina in 1975. She is member of the Bar of the State of North Carolina and of the District of Columbia, and is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court and various Federal courts of appeals. She resides in McLean, Virginia, with her husband and three sons.

Ms. Hanson succeeds Henri F. Rush, who has retired after a distinguished 33-year career in government service.

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