Robert Rivkin is senior vice president – Regulatory and International Affairs and deputy general counsel for Delta Air Lines. Bob is responsible for addressing governmental regulation and oversight in the U.S. and abroad, as well as litigation, antitrust, employment and real estate legal issues.

He works with Delta colleagues and industry associations Airlines For America (A4A) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to advocate Delta’s interests across a range of domestic and international issues, in areas including oil refining, emissions, competition and regulation.

Prior to joining Delta, Bob spent four years as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Transportation, after being nominated by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He was counsel to Secretary Ray LaHood and served as DOT’s Chief Legal Officer, with authority to resolve all legal questions concerning the Department’s policies and programs and its more than 55,000 employees and $78 billion budget. In addition, he has served as vice president and deputy general counsel of Aon Corporation as well as general counsel of the Chicago Transit Authority. Bob has also worked in private law practice, as a federal prosecutor, for the British Parliament and at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium.

Bob graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, received a juris doctor degree from Stanford Law School, where he was an associate editor of the Stanford Law Review, and clerked for Judge Joel M. Flaum of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.