NBAA Marks the Passing of Former TSA Administrator Kip Hawley

National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) President and CEO Ed Bolen issued the following statement on the passing of Edmund S. “Kip” Hawley, former administrator for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Hawley died March 21 at the age of 68.

“In the aftermath of 9/11, Kip Hawley stepped forward to lead a new federal agency committed to ensuring such events would never happen again,” Bolen said. “His dedication to public service, combined with his considerable organizational and leadership skills, made our transportation system and our country safer and more secure.”

A former Senate aide and deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Transportation (DOT) before reentering the private sector in 1985, Hawley took leave from his position as executive vice-president for global trade and logistics software company Arzoon in September 2001 to advise DOT on the formation of the new security agency. He was widely known in government circles as a courageous innovator and inspirational leader.

Hawley was nominated to become the fourth director of the TSA in 2005 after serving as chairman of the Air Traffic Services Board at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and he led the agency until January 2009. In recent years Hawley worked as a security and risk management consultant.