Home > About DOT > Biographies of Key Officials > Michael W. Reynolds

Last updated 2/6/2008

Michael W. Reynolds was appointed by President Bush as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Aviation and International Affairs in October 2002. In January 2008, he began serving as Acting Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs, a position he also held from June to December of 2003 and between October 2005 and October 2006. During his tenure at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), he has served as a key policy advisor to the Secretary of Transportation on a wide range of domestic and international aviation matters.

Before joining the DOT, Mr. Reynolds spent seven and a half years serving as aviation counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. During his time on Capitol Hill, he was involved in the development of all significant aviation policy legislation passed by Congress.

In 1997, Mr. Reynolds took a six-month leave of absence from his Senate position to serve as General Counsel to the National Civil Aviation Review Commission. The Commission was established by Congress and charged with considering the future budget needs and appropriate financing mechanisms for the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as suggesting productivity and safety improvements. 

Prior to joining the public sector, Mr. Reynolds worked as a litigator in a prominent law firm in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Mr. Reynolds has an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Stanford University and a law degree from the College of William and Mary's Marshall-Wythe School of Law.