Helen Elizabeth Garrett, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy
As vice president for academic planning and budget at USC, Professor Garrett oversees resource allocation and manages the university's academic programs and priorities. She also is co-director of the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics and serves on the board of the Initiative and Referendum Institute at USC. In January 2005, she was appointed to President George W. Bush's nine-member bipartisan Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, which issued its report in November 2005. She also serves as chair of the finance committee of the national governing board of Common Cause.
Professor Garrett graduated from the University of Oklahoma and University of Virginia Law School. She clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court and Judge Williams on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and served as legal counsel and legislative assistant for tax, budget and welfare reform issues for U.S. Senator David L. Boren. Before joining USC Law in 2003, she was a professor at University of Chicago Law School, where she also served as deputy dean for academic affairs. She has been a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, the University of Virginia Law School, Central European University in Budapest and the Interdisciplinary Center Law School in Israel. Professor Garrett is the co-author of the fourth edition of the leading casebook on legislation and statutory interpretation, Cases and Materials on Legislation: Statutes and the Creation of Public Policy (West Publishing, 2007). Her recent articles have analyzed courts and political parties, campaign finance reform laws, various congressional procedures, judicial review of regulatory statutes, and the initiative process.
Michael S. Barr, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions
Professor Michael S. Barr currently teaches Financial Institutions, International Finance, Transnational Law, and Jurisdiction and Choice of Law, and co-founded the International Transactions Clinic. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and at the Brookings Institution. Barr conducts large-scale empirical research regarding financial services and low- and moderate-income households and researches and writes about a wide range of issues in financial regulation. Barr recently co-edited Building Inclusive Financial Systems (Brookings Press 2007, with Kumar & Litan) and Insufficient Funds (Russell Sage 2008, with Blank). Barr previously served as Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin’s Special Assistant, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, as Special Advisor to President William J. Clinton, as a special advisor and counselor on the policy planning staff at the State Department, and as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter and then-District Court Judge Pierre N. Leval, of the Southern District of New York. Barr received his J.D. from Yale Law School, an M. Phil in International Relations from Magdalen College, Oxford University, as a Rhodes Scholar, and his B.A., summa cum laude, with Honors in History, from Yale University.
George W. Madison, Nominee for General Counsel
George W. Madison is former Executive Vice President and General Counsel of TIAA-CREF and a member of its Executive Management Team. Mr. Madison joined the company in 2003 after six and a half years as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Comerica Incorporated, where he also served as a member of Comerica’s management policy committee and management council. Mr. Madison was previously a partner in the law firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt in New York (currently known as Mayer, Brown), practicing banking and structured finance law on behalf of foreign and domestic money center banks. Before joining Mayer, Brown & Platt in 1987, Mr. Madison was an associate with the law firm of Shearman & Sterling in New York. He also served as law clerk to the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. During Mr. Madison’s tenure at Comerica in Detroit, he was appointed vice chairman of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation by then Mayor Dennis Archer. He also was a member of the board of trustees of the Henry Ford Health System and served as chairman of its subsidiary, Health Alliance Plan, Inc., one of Michigan’s largest health maintenance organizations. Mr. Madison holds a B.S. from New York University’s Stern School of Business, a J.D. from Columbia Law School and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. Ray Mabus, Nominee for Secretary of the Navy, Department of Defense
Ray Mabus has served as Governor of Mississippi, Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Chairman and CEO of Foamex, a large manufacturing company. As the youngest governor of Mississippi in more than 100 years at the time of his election, he stressed education and job creation. He passed B.E.S.T. (Better Education for Success Tomorrow), one of the most comprehensive education reform programs in America and was named one or Fortune Magazine's top ten education governors. During his tenure as Ambassador, a crisis with Iraq was successfully deterred and Saudi Arabia officially abandoned the boycott of United States businesses that trade with Israel. He was chosen CEO of Foamex to help lead it out of bankruptcy. Less than nine months after his appointment, Foamex successfully emerged from Chapter 11. Governor Mabus has been awarded the U.S. Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award, the U.S. Army's Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the Martin Luther King Social Responsibility Award from the King Center in Atlanta, the National Wildlife Federation Conservation Achievement Award, the King Abdul Aziz Award from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Mississippi Association of Educators' Friend of Education Award.
Donald Remy, Nominee for General Counsel of the Army, Department of Defense
Donald Remy is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins. From 1997-2000, Remy served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice, where he handled numerous cases, including those arising out of the events at Waco and Ruby Ridge. In addition to Mr. Remy's practice experience, he currently serves in a management role at the firm as a member of the Global Training and Career Enhancement Committee. During his legal career, Remy also served as Judicial Clerk for the Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and Assistant to the General Counsel for the Department of the Army. Remy has published, lectured and testified before Congress on legal topics relating to Torts, Constitutional Law, Employment Law, Diversity, Government Contracts, Litigation and Compliance. In 2005, Mr. Remy was recognized by Black Enterprise as one of America's most powerful executives under 40.
J. Randolph Babbitt, Nominee for Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration
J. Randolph Babbitt, known as Randy, is a partner in the worldwide aviation consultancy of Oliver Wyman. He was the former Chairman and CEO of Eclat Consulting until they were acquired by Oliver Wyman in 2007. Babbitt is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of aviation safety and policy, and labor relations with almost 40 years of experience in the industry. Babbitt began his aviation career as a pilot for Eastern Airlines and flew for more than 25 years. He served as President and CEO for US ALPA, the world’s largest professional organization of airline pilots. In 1993 he served as a Presidential appointee on the National Commission to Ensure a Strong Competitive Airline Industry. In 2008 Babbitt was named by the Secretary of Transportation to an independent review team of aviation and safety experts tasked with evaluating and crafting recommendations to improve the FAA's implementation of the aviation safety system and its culture of safety. Babbitt attended both the University of Georgia and the University of Miami.
Jose D. Riojas, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Operations, Security and Preparedness, Department of Veterans Affairs
Jose D. Riojas, began his military career after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as a second lieutenant in the Field Artillery in 1976. He is also a 1997 graduate of the U.S. Army War College completing studies in National Security Strategy. His 30 year military career encompassed numerous and significant operational assignments throughout the world to include, Korea, Germany and Southwest Asia (Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm). His assignments include: service with the U.S. Department of State, service as the Army’s representative on the Joint Requirements Oversight Panel, and Executive Officer to the Chief of Staff of the Army. He served in 5 different Army Divisions: the 2nd Infantry, 7th Infantry (Light), 2nd Armored, 25th Infantry (Light), and the 3rd Infantry (Mechanized). He commanded for over 10 years at the battery, battalion, division artillery and task force levels. His last military assignment was as the Commanding General of Joint Task Force North (JTF-N). The mission of JTF-N was to provide Department of Defense resources throughout the continental U.S. in support of law enforcement agencies so that they could more effectively interdict Transnational Threats including: terrorists, weapons of mass destruction, aliens from special interest countries and narco-terrorism. His responsibilities at UTEP include strategic initiatives in support of Homeland Security/Border Security, Homeland Defense and economic development. Riojas serves as the Director of the DHS Center of Excellence for Border Security and Immigration. He also serves as the Executive Director for the Center for Defense Systems Research, a DOD research center headquartered at UTEP. Additionally, Riojas serves as Chairman of the UTEP National Security Advisory Board, is a member of the Border Biomedical Research Center advisory committee, serves on the El Paso Regional Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors and is serving, by appointment, on the Texas Governor’s Emerging Technology Fund Advisory Committee.
John Trasviña, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Department of Housing and Urban Development
John Trasviña has devoted his legal career to public service in civil rights and immigration policy. In the 1980s and 90s, he served as Chairman Paul Simon’s General Counsel & Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. Thereafter, he was appointed Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs in 1993. In 1997, President Clinton appointed Trasviña as Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices. As Special Counsel, he led the only federal government office devoted solely to immigrant workplace rights and was the highest ranking Latino attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice. After returning to California, he taught immigration law at Stanford Law School. In 2006, he was named President & General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF). A native of San Francisco, Trasviña is a graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School. In recent years, he was a member of the San Francisco Elections Commission, president of the Harvard Club of San Francisco, and a board member of the La Raza Lawyers Association, CORO of Northern California, Lowell High School Alumni Association, League of Women Voters and Pacific Coast Immigration Museum. He serves on the boards of the Latino Issues Forum and Campaign for College Opportunity and recently served as Chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda.
Lawrence E. Strickling, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information, Department of Commerce
Lawrence E. Strickling is a technology policy expert with more than two decades of experience in the public and private sectors. As Policy Coordinator for Obama for America, Strickling oversaw two dozen domestic policy committees and was responsible for technology and telecommunications issues. Prior to joining the campaign, Strickling was Chief Regulatory and Chief Compliance Officer at Broadwing Communications for three years. His private sector experience also includes serving in senior roles at Allegiance Telecom and CoreExpress, Inc. and as a member of the Board of Directors of Network Plus. In government, Strickling served at the Federal Communications Commission as Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau from 1998 to 2000. Prior to that, Strickling was Associate General Counsel and Chief of the FCC's Competition Division. During his tenure at the FCC, Strickling developed and enforced rules to foster competition and protect consumers in the telecommunications marketplace. Prior to joining the FCC, Strickling was Vice President, Public Policy at Ameritech. Before Ameritech, he was a litigation partner at the Chicago law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. Strickling earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in economics. He serves on the Board of Visitors at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, as Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the University of Chicago's Court Theatre, and on the Board of Directors of Music of the Baroque in Chicago.
Cathy Zoi, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy
In January 2007, Cathy Zoi joined the Alliance for Climate Protection as its founding CEO. Established and chaired by former Vice President Al Gore, the Alliance is a non-profit organization spearheading a multi-year, multimillion dollar effort aimed at persuading Americans of both the urgency and solvability of global warming. From 2003 until joining the Alliance, Zoi served as Group Executive Director at the Bayard Group. The firm, recently renamed Landis+Gyr Holdings, is a world leader in energy measurement technologies and systems, with operations in 30 countries and revenues in excess of $1.2 billion. Her work focused on the key role of smart metering to improving energy efficiency in markets in North America, Europe, India, China , Brazil and Australia. Prior to joining Bayard, Cathy was Assistant Director General of the New South Wales EPA in Sydney, Australia. She was also the founding CEO of the NSW Sustainable Energy Development Authority, a $50 million fund to commercialize greenhouse-friendly technology, from 1996-1999. Under her leadership, SEDA launched the world’s first nationwide Green Power program (1997) and the world¹s largest solar-powered suburb (1998). Cathy has served on boards and advisory committees of a variety of companies in the clean technology sector. Cathy was Chief of Staff in the White House Office on Environmental Policy in the Clinton-Gore administration, where she managed the team working on environmental and energy issues (1993-95). She was also a manager at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency where she pioneered the Energy Star Program. Ms. Zoi earned a B.S. in Geology from Duke University and an M.S. in Engineering from Dartmouth College. Dr. Howard Koh, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Health, Department of Health and Human Services
Dr. Howard Koh is the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health, Associate Dean for Public Health Practice, and Director of the Division of Public Health Practice at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). At HSPH, he has served as the Principal Investigator of multiple research grants related to community-based participatory research, cancer prevention, health disparities, tobacco control, and emergency preparedness. He is also Director of the HSPH Center for Public Health Preparedness. Koh previously served as Commissioner of Public Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1997-2003) where he emphasized the power of prevention for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which included four public health hospitals and a staff of over 3000 professionals. Koh graduated from Yale College, Yale University School of Medicine and completed his postgraduate training and chief residencies at Boston City Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. He has earned board certification in internal medicine, hematology, medical oncology, and dermatology, as well as a Master of Public Health degree. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine and Chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the CDC’s Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response. Koh has published over 200 articles in the medical and public health literature. He has received numerous awards and honors including the Distinguished Service Award from the American Cancer Society. President Bill Clinton appointed Koh to the National Cancer Advisory Board (2000-2002). In recognition of his contributions to early detection and prevention of melanoma, the Boston Red Sox designated Koh as a "Medical All-Star" (2003), and invited him to throw the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway Park. He and his wife, Dr. Claudia Arrigg, are the proud parents of three children.
Phyllis C. Borzi, Nominee for Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security, Department of Labor
Phyllis C. Borzi is currently a research professor in the Department of Health Policy, School of Public Health and Health Services, The George Washington University Medical Center, where she is involved in research and policy analysis involving employee benefit plans, the uninsured, managed care, and legal barriers to the development of health information technology. In addition, she is of counsel with the Washington, D.C. law firm of O’Donoghue & O’Donoghue, LLP where she specializes in ERISA and other legal areas affecting employee benefit plans, including pensions and retirement savings, health plans, and discrimination based on age or disability. Until January 1995, Borzi served as pension and employee benefit counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Labor-Management Relations of the Committee on Education and Labor. She was on the Committee staff for 16 years. In 1993, in connection with the Presidential Task Force on Health Care Reform, chaired by former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Borzi served on working groups dealing with insurance reform, workers’ compensation and employer coverage. She holds a Master of Arts degree in English from Syracuse University and received her law degree from Catholic University Law School, where she was editor-in-chief of the law review. Borzi is a charter member and a former President of the American College of Employee Benefit Counsel; she served as a member of its Board of Governors from 2000-2008. Borzi is also a current member of the Advisory Board of the BNA Pension & Benefits Reporter (and a former co-chair of the Board) and a former member of the Advisory Committee of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Pension Research Council, The Wharton School, The University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Board of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER). In 2008, Borzi was appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to serve as a public member of the Administrative Committee for the Goodyear VEBA, an entity that was judicially established pursuant to a negotiated settlement agreement between the company, the Steelworkers and class representatives for the Steelworkers retirees. Borzi has published numerous articles on ERISA, health care law and policy and retirement security issues and is a frequent speaker on programs sponsored by legal, professional, business, consumer and state and local governmental organizations. An active member of the American Bar Association, Borzi is the current chair of the ABA’s Joint Committee on Employee Benefits (representing the Health Law Section) and a member of the CLE committee of the D.C. Bar Association. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Helen R. Kanovsky, Nominee for General Counsel, Department of Housing and Urban Development
Helen R. Kanovsky is currently the chief Operating Officer of the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust. She has been with the Trust nearly 13 years. The Trust is a $3.4 billion registered investment company which invests in housing securities for its institutional investors, who are union and public pension plans. The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust has provided over $5.25 billion to finance 86,000 units of multifamily housing creating over 58,000 union jobs in the construction industry. Kanovsky previously served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator John Kerry. She was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of GE Capital Asset Management and its predecessor, Skyline Financial Services Corporation. She was a partner and associate at Dickstein, Shapiro and Morin. She served as Special Assistant to Secretary Patricia Roberts Harris at HUD, HEW and HHS. For the past three years she has been the Chair of the National Housing Conference and she is a member of the Boards of the Center for Housing Policy and the Special Olympics of the District of Columbia, as well as a Trustee of the National Labor College. She holds an A.B. cum laude from Cornell University where she was Phi Beta Kappa and a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School. Kanovsky has two children, Dr. Jennifer Dorfman, a resident in emergency medicine; and Emily Dorfman, union organizer.
Rhea Suh, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Policy Management and Budget, Department of Interior
Most recently, Rhea Suh was a Program Officer at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where she managed the program’s portfolio of grants designed to protect the ecosystems of the western part of North America. Suh has served as a consultant for the US National Park Service where she wrote educational strategy & developed educational programs for under-served constituencies (such as low-income communities) to bring National Park lessons to a broader audience in public schools. She served as Senior Legislative Assistant to Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell where she drafted & developed legislative initiatives, staffed the Senator at meetings & events, and regularly met with constituents. Prior to her work for Senator Nighthorse Campbell, Suh was a high school science teacher in New York City. Rhea serves on the board of the Environmental Grantmakers Association and is on its inclusive practices committee. She is also a member of the Asian-American Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy Association. Rhea holds an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and Education from Columbia University and a masters’ degree in Education from Harvard. Suh’s graduate school project at the Kennedy School of Government focused on helping the US Park Service think through the options for how they could create a formalized educational program that could help bring the parks into classrooms around the country.
Hilary Tompkins, Nominee for Solicitor, Department of Interior
Hilary Tompkins has been Chief Counsel & Deputy Counsel in the Governor's office in New Mexico to Governor Bill Richardson from 2003 - 2008. Tompkins advised Governor Richardson on such legal and policy issues as legislation, political appointments, executive orders, constitutional authority, civil litigation, statutory interpretation, and intergovernmental affairs. Tompkins also managed the legal staff in the Governor's office as well as the general counsels in over twenty state executive agencies. She served as the Governor's liaison to the NM Attorney General's office as well as serving on several state commissions on the Governor's behalf. Tompkins provided expertise to the Governor in Native American affairs. From 2000 - 2002 she was an associate at Sonosky, Chambers, et al where the focus of her practice was water and environmental law although she also practiced in areas such as employment, taxation, gaming, lands, constitutional issues, torts and tribal jurisdiction. Additionally, Tompkins served as general counsel to several Indian tribes nationwide and was responsible for federal and tribal court litigation practice. From 1998 - 1999 Tompkins worked as Special Assistant US Attorney in Brooklyn, New York. There she was responsible for the defense and prosecution of civil actions on behalf of federal agencies in several legal areas including torts, constitutional law, employment, discrimination, forfeiture, bankruptcy, social security, environmental law and taxation. From 1996 - 1998 Tompkins was an Honors Program Trial Attorney with the US Department of Justice in the Environment and Natural Resources Division. There she practiced enforcement of environmental statutes and regulations on behalf of client agencies. Tompkins was a Law Clerk and Extern for the Navajo Nation Supreme Court in 1995 where she analyzed complex questions of law raised upon appeal. She drafted bench memos, legal memoranda and court opinions. She also conducted an advanced research project on gender roles under traditional Navajo common law principles. Prior to that experience Tompkins was a legal intern at both the US Department of Justice and the Office of the White House Counsel. Tompkins is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and both her study and practice of law reflects her passion to provide legal assistance to other Native Americans as well as those in her home state of New Mexico.
Luis C. de Baca, Nominee for Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, State Department
Luis C. de Baca is Counsel to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, on detail from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. On the Committee, his portfolio for Chairman John Conyers, Jr. includes national security, intelligence, immigration, civil rights, and modern slavery issues. At the Justice Department, de Baca served as Chief Counsel of the Civil Rights Division's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit. During the Clinton Administration, he was the Department's Involuntary Servitude and Slavery Coordinator and was instrumental in developing the United States' victim-centered approach to combating modern slavery. He has investigated and prosecuted human trafficking cases in which victims were held for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation, farm labor, domestic service, and factory work. De Baca received the leading honor given by the national trafficking victim service provider community, the Freedom Network’s Paul & Sheila Wellstone Award, and has been named the Michigan Law School’s Distinguished Latino Alumnus. De Baca graduated from Iowa State University and holds a J.D. from Michigan Law School, where he was President of the Hispanic Law Students Association and an editor of the Michigan Law Review.
Marisa Demeo
Magistrate Judge Demeo was born in Washington, DC. Following her distinguished work as a paralegal in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, she was selected for a Root Tilden scholarship at the NYU School of Law.
Throughout her career, Demeo has displayed a commitment to public interest work. She has worked for numerous public interest groups including the AIDS Service Center of Lower Manhattan, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and Texas Rural Legal Aid. Following further work at the Department of Justice and at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Demeo prosecuted misdemeanor and felony cases as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. In 2007, Demeo was appointed as a Magistrate Judge in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Demeo has also served as an adjunct professor at the Howard University School of Law.
Florence Pan
Florence Pan grew up in New Jersey and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania before earning her law degree at Stanford in 1993. She then clerked for Judge Michael Mukasey on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and Judge Ralph Winter on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Pan was then selected in the prestigious Bristow Fellowships Program for the Office of the Solicitor General at the Department of Justice before working as an attorney in the Criminal Appellate Section of the Department of Justice. In 1998, she worked as a senior adviser to the Undersecretary for Domestic Finance at the Treasury Department. She currently serves as Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Pan also serves as an adjunct professor of criminal procedure at the Washington College of Law at American University.
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