Ben Sliney actually played himself in the movie United 93. It was his first day on the job, but he was pretty experienced, he previously ran all of New York City’s air traffic.
I saw an interview with him maybe 15 years ago (sorry I can’t find it now) but he grounded every plane in the US without approval from anyone above him on his first day as the FAA National Operation Manager (I believe he was at least 5 levels below the President).
Pretty incredible story but he knew how to react and executed the plan well.
edit: clarified some stuff and figured I should include his Wikipedia page too