The nomination of Ashok Kaveeshwar of Maryland to be administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) has been approved by the US Senate Transportation Committee and forwarded to the full Senate for confirmation consideration.
Kaveeshwar is president of Orange Technologies Inc, a small business that provides information technology to government and commercial customers, according to information from the White House.
He was nominated by President Bush in May and approved by the Senate committee June 23.
Kaveeshwar previously served at Raytheon Technical Services Co as senior vice-president and Hughes STX Corp as president and chief executive officer. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Ujjain, India, and a doctorate from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
RITA was created in February 2005 and is composed of staff from the former Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) Office of Innovation, Research, and Education, and includes the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge MA and the Transportation Safety Institute in Oklahoma City OK.
The agency also houses the Transportation Secretary’s Office of Intermodalism and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.