James E. Hall

James ("Jim") E. Hall (born December 21, 1941) is a lifelong public servant whose career has spanned private law and government administration. Hall was nominated by President Clinton to be a member of the National Transportation Safety Board where he served as its chairman from 1994 to 2001.

Early life and education

Hall was born in Union City, Tennessee, the son of John "Big John" Hall and Agnes Sanders Hall. He has one older brother, John Richard Hall, who was an American businessman, and the chairman and CEO of Ashland Oil Inc. from 1981 to 1997. He is also the nephew of Rt. Rev. William Evan Sanders, the first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee, and Brice Sidney Sanders, the sixth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina.

After World War II the Hall family relocated from Nashville to Knoxville, Tennessee, where the young Jim attended public schools. In 1954, when Hall was 13, the U.S. Supreme Court passed a landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional. In January 1956, when Hall was 15, federal judge Robert L. Taylor ordered nearby Clinton High School to desegregate with "all deliberate speed" in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Two years after 12 African-American students became the first to integrate the previously all-white school, Clinton High School was severely damaged by a series of dynamite explosions in what was believed to have been a racially-motivated attack. The proximity of the controversy left an indelible impression on Jim, leading him to join the Young Democrats of America and further pursue a calling towards civic engagement.

While attending Knoxville West High School, Hall participated on the debate team, where he developed strong public speaking skills. He also competed in football, track and wrestling, and was mentored by civics teacher and coach William H. Wright, Jr. Hall served as the business manager for the high school newspaper, The West Wind, and was a commencement speaker at the 1959 graduation ceremony.

In 1960 Jim began attending the University of Tennessee  in Knoxville, where his interest in politics grew further. He participated on the debate team, in student government, and served as President of the Sigma Chi fraternity. In 1962, when he was a sophomore, Hall contributed to future Congressman Bob Clement’s successful campaign for student government as a freshman. While at the University of Tennessee, Hall also helped with then-president Andrew (Andy) D. Holt’s efforts for racial integration at the school. In 1964, Hall served as Chairman of the Tennessee Young Citizens for Johnson-Humphrey and as President of the College Young Democrats of Tennessee.

As a student at the University of Tennessee, Hall participated in the advanced Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), graduating with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and a commission in the United States Army in 1967.

Career

Upon graduation from the University of Tennessee College of Law, Hall was commissioned as First lieutenant in the United States Army Signal Corps. From 1968 to 1969, he served in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service in 1969. Hall was honorably discharged in 1970, having achieved the rank of Captain.

After ending active military duty, Hall joined United States Senator Albert Gore Sr.’s staff as special assistant and actively participated in Gore's 1970 reelection campaign. He then served as Border and Southern States Coordinator during U.S. Senator  Edmund Muskie’s campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, ending with the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami. Hall also served as counsel to the United States Senate Subcommittee for Intergovernmental Relations, created by Muskie in 1962. During his service on this subcommittee, Hall met with then Governor Ronald Reagan in California to discuss legislation on national property tax reform.

In 1974 Hall joined Franklin L. Haney Company, LLC, which had been founded by his college friend, Franklin Haney, in 1967. There, Hall served as in-house counsel and managed Haney's 1974 campaign for governor of Tennessee.

In 1976 Hall was asked to join the campaign for Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter as a member of the advance staff for vice presidential nominee Walter Mondale. After the Inauguration, Hall accompanied Mondale on international trips to Italy and Brazil. Hall also managed Jimmy Carter's 1980 presidential campaign in Tennessee.

During this period he also continued to serve as in-house counsel for Franklin Haney's companies and assisted in the development and management of Haney's properties at the 1982 World's Fair, including the Holiday Inn and the Knoxville Convention Center.

In 1984 Jim joined the law offices of Berger & Berger in Chattanooga, Tennessee, handling cases in real estate and property law.

In 1986 Hall was asked by then-House Speaker Ned McWherter to run his primary election campaign for governor of Tennessee. McWherter won the primary, avoiding negative campaign messaging against his opponents and promising to continue the work of outgoing governor Lamar Alexander. McWherter then asked Hall to run his general election campaign, which he subsequently won as well. After the general election, Hall headed McWherter's transition committee, working with Alexander's administration to coordinate a smooth transition.

After McWherter's inauguration Hall joined Governor McWherter's cabinet as Executive Assistant of Policy and Planning and Director of the State Planning Office, a position he held from 1987 to 1991. Hall organized a 95-county state-wide listening tour for the new Governor. Hall also managed McWherter's successful 1990 campaign for reelection.

In 1991 the University of Chattanooga Foundation reports, Hall "received a phone call from an old friend, Bill Clinton. Jim had known Clinton since the late 1960s due to their involvement with the College Young Democrats." Clinton asked Hall to run his presidential campaign in Tennessee. Hall agreed and took a leave of absence from the State Planning Office to run the campaign. Hall and his wife Annie served as delegates to the 1992 Democratic National Convention in New York City.

Upon Clinton's election in 1992, U.S. Senator Al Gore, Jr. resigned to serve as Vice President of the United States and Harlan Mathews was appointed to complete Senator Gore's term representing Tennessee in the U.S. Senate. Hall took a temporary leave of absence from the Tennessee State Planning Office to serve as Matthews's Chief of staff in 1993, acknowledging that his departure from state government might be permanent if he was offered a position in Clinton's administration. That offer came in February 1993, when he was nominated by President Bill Clinton to serve as a member and later as chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), appointments that were later confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Hall served for over seven years, notifying President Clinton of his intent to resign in January 2001. Upon leaving NTSB, among other accolades, Hall was awarded an honorary degree, Doctor of Public Service, by George Washington University.

After his tenure at the NTSB, Hall founded a consulting firm, Hall & Associates, LLC, in 2001. Since then, he has continued his interest in transportation safety, appearing as a guest speaker on transportation safety and security issues on MSNBC, NBC’s Today show, CBS, ABC, NPR, and other national and international news networks. In 2014, Hall appeared on several networks to provide insights and commentary on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down in eastern Ukraine by Russian forces and accidents involving the redesigned Boeing 737 MAX.

Hall is a former member of the Board of Trustees at the University of Tennessee having been appointed by Governor Phil Bredesen. He also served on the Board of the University of Chattanooga Foundation. He served as Chairman of the Enterprise Center in Chattanooga for eight years, a board member of U.S. Xpress Enterprises, a member of the External Advisory Board of BP America PLC, and on the National Academy of Engineering’s Committee on Combating Terrorism and the Aviation Institute Advisory Board at George Washington University.  

He currently serves as chair of the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport Authority. He is also a member of the national board of the Center for Alcohol Policy.

Tennessee State Planning Office

While serving as the Director of the State Planning Office under Governor Ned McWherter, Hall oversaw several of McWherter's major initiatives including the Solid Waste Management Act (1991), the Tennessee SportsFest, the Governor’s Alliance for a Drug-Free Tennessee. The Drug-Free Tennessee program involved a statewide media campaign to educate the public on the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol, and enlist Tennessee citizens’ help in stopping the drug epidemic across the state. As chairman of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Health, Hall oversaw the decision to bring the 1994 Tennessee Sportsfest—a statewide, Olympic-style competition open to all Tennesseeans—to his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Governor McWherter delegated to Hall and the State Planning Office the responsibility of planning Tennessee’s 1996 Bicentennial Celebration. An integral part of that celebration was the idea proposed to McWherter by Hall and his office for the creation of the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park in Nashville. Another major initiative delegated to Hall and the State Planning Office was Tennessee’s participation in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. As a result of Planning Office recommendation and Governor McWherter’s leadership, the Ocoee River in Tennessee was selected as the site for the whitewater Olympic competition, the only event of the 1996 Olympics held outside the State of Georgia.

National Transportation Safety Board

As chair of the NTSB, Hall worked tirelessly to improve safety in all modes of transportation in the United States and abroad. He visited more than 30 countries and oversaw a period of unprecedented activity as the NTSB investigated numerous aviation, rail, pipeline, and maritime accidents in the United States. Among the most high-profile and sensitive investigations led by Hall were USAir Flight 427 and American Eagle Flight 4184 in 1994;  the 1995 Fox River Grove bus–train collision; the Birgenair Flight 301, ValuJet Flight 592, and  TWA Flight 800 in 1996; John Denver’s fatal crash in 1997; the Carnival Ecstasy fire in 1998; the AMTRAK crash in Bourbonnais, Illinois, the Olympic pipeline explosion in Bellingham, Washington, and the EgyptAir Flight 990 in 1999; and the Alaska Airlines Flight 261 in 2000. In 1996, President Clinton named Hall to the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security. In 1999, Hall appeared on an episode of 60 Minutes titled "The Search for John F. Kennedy, Jr."

Throughout his tenure at NTSB, Hall worked behind the scenes to urge airlines to install fire detection and suppression systems and upgrade equipment to prevent future accidents. He brought the NTSB into a new era of supporting not only victims of transportation accidents, but also their families, and doggedly advocated for better protections for children across all modes of transportation.

Under Hall’s leadership the NTSB issued landmark safety studies on commuter airlines, the air tourism industry, the performance and use of child restraint systems, personal watercraft, transit bus operations, passive-grade railway crossings, and the dangers posed to children by passenger-side airbags in automobiles.

Awards

In 1999 Hall received the Greater New York Automobile Dealers’ Association World Traffic Safety Award for his outstanding leadership in promoting transportation safety initiatives, including putting child passenger protection first in automotive design and regulation. In May, 2002, Hall was awarded an honorary degree in public service from George Washington University for outstanding leadership and commitment to the public during his time at the National Transportation Safety Board.

Family life

In 1973 Jim Hall married Anne Stewart (“Annie”) Impink of Shillington, Pennsylvania. Jim and Annie met in 1971 in Washington, DC, while working in Senator Edmund Muskie's presidential campaign. Annie is a former member of the Hamilton County Tennessee Board of Education (1996–2000) and was named a Chattanooga Woman of Distinction for her education advocacy in 2015. She is the Vice-Chair of the Hamilton County Industrial Development Board.

Jim and Annie Hall remain passionate about civics education. They hope to inspire future generations to greater civic and political involvement at local and national levels.

Their daughter Mary ("Molly") Elizabeth Cooper is the Director of Alumni Affairs at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She is married to Scott Cooper. Their daughter Catharine ("Katie") Anne Giannasi is a Partner at Husch Blackwell in Chattanooga, TN. She is married to Anthony Giannasi.