Day 1 2022

Joanne Thomka is the Director of the National Traffic Law Center of the National District Attorneys Association in Arlington, Virginia. Prior to joining NDAA, Mrs. Thomka was a Senior Assistant District Attorney for the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office in Syracuse, New York. She was the Bureau Chief of the DWI Unit. Mrs. Thomka also previously served as a Program Counsel at the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG).

Mrs. Thomka is a member of several committees which pertain to traffic safety: Transportation Research Board’s Traffic Law Enforcement Committee, National Sheriff’s Association’s Traffic Safety Committee, Highway Safety Coalition, and the Traffic Injury Research Foundation’s DWI Working Group, She is also the recipient of the 2013 J. Stannard Baker Award, presented by the National Sheriffs’ Association and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Recognition for Outstanding Achievement in Highway Safety and a 2016 Public Service Award from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for protecting communities and enhancing traffic safety through legal information and training to the Nation’s criminal justice community.

Nelson is the Executive Director of the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA), having previously served 3 years as NDAA’s Director of Government Affairs bringing comprehensive experience across Congress, federal agencies, and the criminal justice system stakeholder community. Prior to NDAA, Nelson served as the Director of Government Affairs for The Charles Group in Washington, DC, where he represented the Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA), an organization representing elected sheriffs from counties with populations over 500,000 people. Nelson also brings federal agency experience as he spent time in the Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security. With that experience, he brings insight into crisis response programs and emerging technologies in the first responder community.

Earl Adams, Jr. is the Chief Counsel for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. He is responsible for legal policy on all aspects of Agency programs and activities including the development, issuance, interpretation, enforcement, and defense of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations before state and federal courts. He also supervises a team of approximately 50 attorneys that provide legal support on budget, procurement, fiscal law, ethics, personnel and employment related matters.

Earl is litigator and regulatory attorney with extensive experience representing clients in both federal and state courts in commercial disputes and advising on compliance matters. Prior to joining FMCSA, Earl was a partner in the litigation department of a national law and served as the Managing Partner of the firm’s Washington, DC office. There, he advised a diverse list of clients to comply with regulatory obligations and to compel government action across several sectors, including transportation, public utilities, and renewable energy. He is also a former chairman and board member of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which manages Reagan National and Dulles International Airports.

In the public sector, Earl served with distinction as chief of staff to the former Lieutenant Governor (now Congressman) of Maryland, Anthony G. Brown. As a member of Governor Martin O’Malley’s Executive Cabinet, he managed the Office of the Lt. Governor and a portfolio of policy and budget issues and priorities.

Earl earned a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School, a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from Morehouse College.

Earl is deeply committed to the critical safety mission of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Rob Molloy,PhD,  has been with the NTSB for over 25 years. He currently serves as theDirector with the NTSB’s Office of Highway Safety. In this role he isresponsible for overseeing crash investigations and the development ofcrash/safety reports.  He also served as the Chief of the ReportDevelopment Division. Prior to joining the Office of Highway Safety, Dr. Molloydesigned and carried out safety studies in the Office of Research andEngineering, including a study of evacuations of commercial aircraft, ananalysis of aviation accident survivability, and a study of pipeline controlsystems. His PhD is in applied experimental psychology which he earned at TheCatholic University of America.

Judy has worked for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet in the Division of Driver Licensing for the past 17 years.  She started in the CDL Section and served as supervisor for 11 years.  Judy was promoted to Administrative Branch Manager overseeing three sections and the State CDL Program Coordinator in 2018.  She helped create the CDL Advisory Committee and is co-chair of that committee.  This committee is a consortium of different parties all connected in the commercial driver license/commercial motor vehicle world.