Mr. Kever was first appointed to the Board by President Bush on the recommendations of the Association of American Railroads and the American Short Line Railroad Association in 1992, and was reappointed to a second term of office in 1995. A financial consultant to private industry prior to his Board appointment, he had been Vice President and Controller of the Santa Fe Pacific Corporation and had held executive positions with Household International and Deloitte and Touche.

A Certified Public Accountant, Mr. Kever holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University. He is a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and now resides in Grayslake, Illinois.

Mr. Speakman was first appointed to the Board by President Bush on the recommendation of the Railway Labor Executives’ Association (RLEA) in 1992, and was reappointed to a second term of office in 1995. Prior to his appointment, he had been President of the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen since 1987. In this position he also served as Vice Chairman of the Railway Labor Executives’ Association, Chairman of the RLEA’s Committee on Railroad Retirement, and as Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO. Other posts held in the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen were Vice President, 1985-87; Director of Research, 1984-85; Grand Lodge Representative, 1979-84; and Local Lodge Chairman, 1977-1979. He began his railroad career as a signalman and foreman on the Penn Central Railroad.

A veteran, Mr. Speakman served with the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam. He is a native of Ohio, and now resides in Schaumburg, Illinois, with his wife, Karen.

The 3-Member Board’s Chair, Cherryl T. Thomas, was appointed by President Clinton in 1998, and continues to serve a term of office through August 2002.

Headquartered in Chicago, the Board provides retirement, survivor, disability, unemployment and sickness benefit payments totaling about $8 billion a year, under the Federal Railroad Retirement and Unemployment Insurance Acts, covering the nation’s railroad workforce and their families.

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