Diane Steed

Diane Steed was one of the three founding principals in the public relations firm, Stratacomm, founder of the auto industry's front group, SUV Owners of America (SUVOA), Executive Director of the Roadway Safety Foundation, a project of the American Highway Users Alliance. (In March 2004 Stratacomm merged with Fleishman-Hillard.

Between 1983 and 1989 Diane Steed was Highway Traffic Safety Administration administrator for the Reagan Administration. A media release announcing her appointment as the Roadway Safety Foundation stated that she "served as the longest-tenured Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)".

"Prior to NHTSA, Diane also served as a Management Associate, one of an elite corps of handpicked managers at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. She also was a principal architect of a government-wide regulatory reform effort that reduced unnecessary paperwork requirements and costs. Following her government career, Diane directed the Coalition for Vehicle Choice (CVC), one of the nation's largest grassroots automotive consumer coalitions," the RSF release stated.

In a 1992 speech to the Detroit Economic Club, which was reported in a PBS Frontline program a decade later, Steed stated "The Coalition for Vehicle Choice was formed to oppose the fuel economy regulations or the fuel economy proposals that are currently being considered in Congress."

"In addition to leading the Roadway Safety Foundation, which will remain an independent organization, Diane will continue to be a principal with Strat@comm, a Washington-based strategic communications counseling firm that specializes in transportation issues. Diane and Strat@comm had a similar arrangement when she served as president of CVC," it stated.