The Trump administration announced Aug. 29 that former Maryland transit official K. Jane Williams is now deputy administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, an appointed position that makes her the agency's chief executive until a new CEO can take office.

 President Trump has not yet named his choice to be the FTA administrator, a position that requires Senate confirmation. 

The FTA provides financial and  technical assistance to more than 3,000 local public transit providers In U.S. states and territories, including buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, trolleys and ferries. It is partly funded from the mass transit account of the Highway Trust Fund.

Prior to joining FTA, Williams had been director of the Washington Area Transit Office in the Maryland Department of Transportation since September 2015. In that role, the announcement said, she worked closely with the leadership of the Maryland Transit Administration and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which is the sprawling subway and bus system across the capital area of the District of Columbia and suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.

Before that, according to her LinkedIn page, she was a senior legislative adviser in the office of U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., where she had worked since July 2011.

Williams earlier held executive branch positions in the Energy and Labor departments under President Reagan, and in the Department of Interior under President George H.W. Bush.