Francis Duggan served as chairman of the NMB from January 1, 2001, to June 30, 2003. He was first appointed by President Clinton and confirmed by the United States Senate on November 19, 1999. He subsequently was confirmed for a new three-year term on September 8, 2000.

He is one of the very few Board Members with experience in the railroad industry, and was an assistant vice president of the Association of American Railroads for ten years. During this period, 1977-87, the rail industry was deregulated twice, and went through much the same bankruptcies and consolidations that the airlines are facing today. He also has extensive airline experience, and served on President George Bush's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism between 1989-90. Mr. Duggan has represented the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 as a pro bono advisor and attorney. He is an officer of the Transportation Section of the Federal Bar Association and served as the editor of TRANSLAW.

Mr. Duggan was a Presidential appointee at the Labor Department during the Ford and Reagan Administrations, serving as Assistant Secretary in the Reagan administration. He worked in the Senate on the Labor Committee and in the office of former Senator Charles Mathias (R-MD), and in the House for Rep. William Steiger (R-WI). Mr. Duggan was also the Director of Operations of the Legal Services Program in the Office of Economic Opportunity.

He is an alumnus of St. John's college and law school in New York, and received two graduate political science fellowships. He also received a research grant from Harvard University for the book "Labor and the American Community" by John Dunlop and Derek Bok. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, he lives in Alexandria, VA, with his wife Faye Padgett, a retired Capitol Hill staffer. He has three grown children.