White House Launches Government Accountability and Transparency Board to Cut Waste and Boost Accountability

Leaders in Cutting Waste, Fraud and Abuse Named to New Board

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the Obama Administration is announcing the launch of the Government Accountability and Transparency Board. The Board, first announced (www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/06/13/executive-order-delivering-efficient-effective-and-accountable-governmen)  by the President and Vice President in June as part of the Campaign to Cut Waste (www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/06/13/white-house-launches-campaign-cut-waste-vice-president-take-making-gover) , will focus on rooting out misspent tax dollars and making government spending more accessible and transparent for the American people. Today, the President named several of the nation’s top watchdogs and leaders on government accountability to the board, which will be led by interim chairman Earl Devaney. The Board is holding their first meeting this morning to begin developing plans to enhance transparency in federal spending and root out and stop waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs. 

“Cutting Waste, fraud and abuse has been something Washington has talked about for decades, but now more than ever, what the American people need is action,” said Vice President Biden. “That’s why we are tapping the top leaders across government who have been most aggressive in cracking down on waste to drive change and make the government work for our nation’s families. With our nation’s top watchdogs at the helm, we will deliver the kind of transparency and accountability for Federal spending that the public deserves and expects.”

Today, the President announced the appointment of the following federal officials to the Board (see full bios below):

•           Earl E. Devaney – Chairman, Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board

•           Ashton B. Carter – Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics, Department of Defense

•           W. Scott Gould – Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs

•           Allison C. Lerner – Inspector General, National Science Foundation

•           Daniel R. Levinson – Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services

•           Ellen Murray – Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Health and Human Services

•           Calvin L. Scovel III – Inspector General, Department of Transportation

•           Kathleen S. Tighe – Inspector General, Department of Education

•           Daniel I. Werfel – Controller, Office of Management and Budget

•           David C. Williams – Inspector General, United States Postal Service

•           Neal S. Wolin – Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury

The Board will recommend a broad range of strategies to make spending data more reliable and accessible to the American people.  They will also make recommendations to broaden the Administration’s use of cutting edge technology to crack down on fraud, and focus on integrating data systems and using data for better decision-making.  In doing so, the Board will offer a comprehensive vision for the management of federal spending that will fundamentally change how government works.  And it will ensure that this vision is executed in the most cost-effective, efficient and logical manner.

“From the first day of this Administration, the President and the Vice President have outlined a vision of government that is more open and more accountable to the American people,” said Federal Chief Performance Officer Jeffrey Zients.  “We’ve made tremendous progress to date, cutting costs, cracking down on fraud, and opening up the government’s books for all to see and scrutinize.  The Government Accountability and Transparency Board is a critical next step in this ongoing effort.”

The Campaign to Cut Waste is an effort to identify and eliminate misspent tax dollars in every agency and department across the federal government. The Campaign builds on the Administration’s ongoing effort to make government more efficient, effective and accountable to the American people. You can read more about that work here (www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/agijuneupdate.pdf) . 

Official Bios of the Government Accountability and Transparency Board

July 28th, 2011

• Earl E. Devaney – Chairman, Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (Interim Chairman)

Earl E. Devaney, Chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, is a veteran public official dedicated to accountability and transparency in government.

On February 23, 2009, six days after signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, President Obama named Devaney to head the Recovery Board, which is charged with overseeing spending under the $787 billion program. In announcing Devaney’s appointment, the President said: “Earl has doggedly pursued waste, fraud and mismanagement. He has the reputation of being one of the best [Inspectors General] that we have in this town…. I can’t think of a more tenacious and efficient guardian of the hard-earned tax dollars the American people have entrusted us to wisely invest.”

President Bill Clinton appointed Devaney as the Inspector General of the Department of the Interior in 1999. During his tenure at the Office of Inspector General (OIG), he oversaw the public corruption investigations that led to the convictions of Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Interior Deputy Secretary Steven Griles. He also presided over the oil and gas investigations that engulfed the Minerals Management Service from 2007 to 2009.

Devaney’s commitment to leadership – he graduated from Georgetown University’s prestigious Leadership Coaching Program – is reflected in the OIG’s #1 ranking among agency subcomponents in both Strategic Management and Work/Life Balance in the highly regarded “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government” 2009 survey.

Before becoming the Inspector General of the Department of the Interior, Devaney spent eight years as the Director of the Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training for the Environmental Protection Agency. In that job, he supervised all of EPA’s criminal investigators, the agency’s forensics laboratory, and its enforcement training institute. In 1998, he received the Meritorious Presidential Rank Award for outstanding government service.

Devaney began his federal law enforcement career with the Secret Service in 1970, following his graduation from Franklin and Marshall College. At the time of his retirement from the Secret Service in 1991, Devaney was Special Agent-in-Charge of the Fraud Division and was recognized as an international expert in white collar crime.

• Ashton B. Carter – Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics, Department of Defense

Dr. Ashton B. Carter was sworn in as Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics on April 27, 2009.

Before assuming this position, Dr. Carter was chair of the International and Global Affairs faculty at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Co-Director (with former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry) of the Preventive Defense Project, a research collaboration of Harvard and Stanford Universities. Dr. Carter was also Senior Partner at Global Technology Partners and a member of the Board of Trustees of the MITRE Corporation and the Advisory Boards of MIT’s Lincoln Laboratories and the Draper Laboratory. He was a consultant to Goldman, Sachs on international affairs and technology matters. He was a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Physical Society, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, the Advisory Board of the Yale Journal of International Law, and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Dr. Carter was also Co-Chair of the Review Panel on Future Directions for DTRA (Defense Threat Reduction Agency) Missions and Capabilities to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction, Chair of the National Security Strategy and Policies Expert Working Group of the Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States, a member of the National Missile Defense White Team, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on International Security and Arms Control.

Dr. Carter served as a member of the Defense Science Board from 1991-1993 and 1997-2001, the Defense Policy Board from 1997-2001, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s International Security Advisory Board from 2006-2008. In 1997, Dr. Carter co-chaired the Catastrophic Terrorism Study Group with former CIA Director John M. Deutch, which urged greater attention to terrorism. From 1998 to 2000, he was deputy to William J. Perry in the North Korea Policy Review and traveled with him to Pyongyang. In 2001-2002, he served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism and advised on the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

Dr. Carter was Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy during President Clinton’s first term. His Pentagon responsibilities encompassed: countering weapons of mass destruction worldwide, oversight of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and missile defense programs, the 1994 Nuclear Posture Review, the Counter proliferation Initiative, control over sensitive U.S. exports, chairmanship of NATO’s High Level Group, the Nunn-Lugar program resulting in the removal of all nuclear weapons from the territories of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, establishment of defense and intelligence relationships with the countries of the former Soviet Union when the Cold War ended, and participation in the negotiations that led to the deployment of Russian troops as part of the Bosnia Peace Plan Implementation Force.

Dr. Carter was twice awarded the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal. For his contributions to intelligence, he was awarded the Defense Intelligence Medal. In 1987, Dr. Carter was named one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans by the United States Jaycees.  He received the American Physical Society's Forum Award for his contributions to physics and public policy. Dr. Carter was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Diplomacy.

From 1990-1993, Dr. Carter was Director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Chairman of the Editorial Board of International Security. Previously, he held positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and Rockefeller University.

Dr. Carter received bachelor's degrees in physics and in medieval history from Yale University, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He received his doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

In addition to authoring numerous articles, scientific publications, government studies, and Congressional testimonies, Dr. Carter co-edited and co-authored eleven books, including Keeping the Edge: Managing Defense for the Future (2001), Preventive Defense: A New Security Strategy for America (1997), Cooperative Denuclearization: From Pledges to Deeds (1993), A New Concept of Cooperative Security (1992), Beyond Spinoff: Military and Commercial Technologies in a Changing World (1992), Soviet Nuclear Fission: Control of the Nuclear Arsenal in a Disintegrating Soviet Union (1991), Managing Nuclear Operations (1987), Ballistic Missile Defense (1984), and Directed Energy Missile Defense in Space (1984).

• W. Scott Gould – Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs

W. Scott Gould was nominated by President Obama to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and subsequently confirmed by the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on April 2, 2009.

As Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Gould serves as the chief operating officer of the federal government's second largest department, responsible for a nationwide system of health care services, benefits programs and national cemeteries for America’s veterans and their dependents.

Prior to his appointment to the VA, Gould was Vice President for public sector strategy at IBM Global Business Services where he focused on strategy and innovation. Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer of The O’Gara Company, a strategic advisory and investment services firm, and Chief Operating Officer of Exolve, a technology services company.

The former Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration at the Department of Commerce, Gould has also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Finance and Management at the Treasury Department. As a White House Fellow, he served in the Export-Import Bank of the United States and in the Office of the White House Chief of Staff. Gould was also appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts to conduct a financial and operational work-out of the city of Chelsea, the first municipality in the state to be placed in receivership by the general court.

Gould is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, having served at sea aboard the guided missile destroyer Richard E. Byrd. As a Naval Intelligence reservist, Capt. Gould was recalled to active duty for Operation Noble Eagle and Enduring Freedom. After President Obama’s election, he served as co-chair of the VA Agency Review Team for the Presidential Transition Team.

A fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and former member of the National Security Agency Technical Advisory Group and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Board of Overseers, Gould has been awarded the U.S. Department of Commerce Medal, the U.S. Department of Treasury Medal and the Navy Meritorious Service Medal. He is coauthor of “The People Factor: Strengthening America by Investing in the Public Service,” published by Brookings Institution Press in 2009. He holds an AB degree from Cornell University and MBA and Ed.D. degrees from the University of Rochester. Gould is married to Michèle A. Flournoy. They have three children and reside in the Washington, D.C. area.

• Allison C. Lerner – Inspector General, National Science Foundation

Allison C. Lerner assumed the duties as Inspector General (IG) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in April 2009, reporting to the National Science Board and the Congress. As head of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) she recommends policies for promoting economy, efficiency and effectiveness of NSF programs and operations. She leads efforts to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse, improving the integrity of NSF programs and operations and investigating allegations of misconduct in science.

Ms. Lerner was appointed in November 2005 as Counsel to the Inspector General at the Department of Commerce, a position through which she acted as the IG’s principal legal advisor and managed the office’s staff attorneys and legal services.

Ms. Lerner began her federal career in 1991, joining the Office of Inspector General at Commerce as assistant counsel, and has been a member of the senior executive service since 2005. During her tenure at Commerce she served as special assistant to the IG, Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Auditing, and Acting Assistant Inspector General for Auditing. Prior to joining the federal government, she was an associate at the law firm of Foster, Lewis, Langley, Gardner & Banack in San Antonio, Texas.

Ms. Lerner has been honored by the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) with three awards for excellence: in 2001, for her work reviewing the Department of Commerce’s management of 5,000 intra-agency and special agreements worth over $1 billion; in 2002, for her assistance in a complex investigation of false claims submitted under a financial award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and in 2005, for her review of a controversial Booz-Allen Hamilton study that recommended significant structural changes to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Finance and Administrative Services.

Ms. Lerner received her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and a B.A. in liberal arts from the University of Texas. She is admitted to the bar in both Texas and the District of Columbia.

• Daniel R. Levinson – Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services

Daniel R. Levinson has headed the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) since September 8, 2004. HHS is among the largest departments in the federal government, encompassing Medicare, Medicaid, public health, medical research, food and drug safety, welfare, child and family services, disease prevention, Indian health, and mental health services. It also exercises leadership responsibilities in public health emergency preparedness and combating bio-terrorism.

As Inspector General, Mr. Levinson is the senior official responsible for audits, evaluations, investigations, and law enforcement efforts, relating to HHS programs and operations. He manages an independent and objective nationwide organization of over 1500 professional staff members dedicated to promoting economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in HHS programs and addressing fraud, waste, and abuse.

In the wider government accountability community, Mr. Levinson serves on the Executive Council of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, where he chairs the Committee on Inspection and Evaluation. He also is a member of the Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board. He previously served as Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Public Inquiry.

Mr. Levinson has devoted most of his career to government service. Prior to his appointment at HHS, he served as Inspector General of the U. S. General Services Administration, where he oversaw the integrity of the federal civilian procurement process. Earlier in his career, he served as Chairman of the U. S. Merit Systems Protection Board, where he oversaw the integrity of the federal civilian personnel system and adjudicated a wide range of personnel appeals pursuant to the Civil Service Reform Act.

Mr. Levinson is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Southern California, and earned a J. D. from Georgetown University, where he served as Notes and Comments Editor of The American Criminal Law Review. He also holds a Master of Laws degree from The George Washington University. He is a Certified Fraud Examiner and a member of the California, New York, and District of Columbia Bars.

• Ellen Murray – Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Health and Human Services

Ellen Murray has served as Staff Director for the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies since 1999. In that capacity, she oversees the annual $150 billion LHHS Appropriations bill. Murray has extensive knowledge of the Department of Health and Human Services budget. Prior to her tenure with the Senate, she served in both the budget office and the Office of the General Counsel at HHS.

Previously, Murray served as an economist at the Social Security Administration. She is a graduate of Trinity College in Washington, DC with a degree in Economics and the George Mason University School of Law.

• Calvin L. Scovel III – Inspector General, Department of Transportation

Calvin L. Scovel III is the sixth Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). He was nominated by President George W. Bush on July 13, 2006 and, after confirmation by the Senate, was sworn in on October 27, 2006.

OIG was established by law in 1978 to provide the Secretary and Congress with independent and objective reviews of the efficiency and effectiveness of DOT operations and programs and to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. OIG's 400-plus staff works to support DOT's priorities of transportation safety and effective program delivery and performance. Recent audit reports and congressional testimony have addressed DOT's implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; FAA's safety oversight and efforts to develop the Next Generation Air Transportation System; air carriers' outsourcing of aircraft maintenance; rail, pipeline, and commercial vehicle safety; bridge safety and inspections; NAFTA cross-border trucking; Amtrak's operations and budgetary needs; and safety and financing issues in multi-billion dollar highway and transit programs like Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel and the Lower Manhattan recovery project.

Mr. Scovel joined DOT after 29 years of active service in the U.S. Marine Corps, from which he retired as a Brigadier General. His last military assignment was as a senior judge on the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals. He previously served as Assistant Judge Advocate General of the Navy for Military Justice, the principal advisor to the Secretary of the Navy and the Judge Advocate General on all criminal justice policy matters. He also commanded a military police battalion that provided security and law enforcement for Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia. Mr. Scovel served as senior legal advisor for the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which included all Marine amphibious forces in Operation Desert Storm and later in a NATO exercise above the Arctic Circle in Norway. He had previously served as legal advisor for a Marine amphibious unit deployed to the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans, where it conducted exercises in Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, Kenya, and Australia.

A Marine judge advocate, Mr. Scovel served as prosecutor, defense counsel, or judge in 250 courts-martial that included charges of murder, rape, child sexual assault, and drug trafficking. As an adjunct faculty member for the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies, Mr. Scovel led instruction teams in the rule of law and civilian control of the military for senior civilian and military officials in Honduras, Mauritius, Albania, and Serbia. He was in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. His military awards include the Legion of Merit (four awards) and Combat Action Ribbon. Mr. Scovel is a recipient of the Secretary's Gold Medal for Outstanding Achievement for his leadership of OIG in supporting DOT's recovery effort after the collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis in 2007.

Mr. Scovel received his bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his juris doctor degree from Duke University School of Law. He also received a master's degree from the Naval War College. Mr. Scovel is married and has two sons. Carey is a graduate of Elon University and serves as a police officer in Charlotte, North Carolina. Thomas is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

• Kathleen S. Tighe – Inspector General, Department of Education

On March 17, 2010, Ms. Tighe was sworn in as the Inspector General for the Department of Education. Prior to this, she was the Deputy Inspector General, United States Department of Agriculture. From 1995 to 2005, she served as Counsel to the Inspector General, General Services Administration and, before that, as an Assistant Counsel for the Office of Inspector General. From 1988 until 1991, she was a Trial Attorney with the Fraud Section of the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Department of Justice doing litigation under the civil False Claims Act involving Department of Defense, Department of Agriculture, the General Services Administration, and other agencies. Prior to her Government service, Ms. Tighe was in private practice with the law firm Lewis, Mitchell & Moore.

Ms. Tighe has lectured frequently to both Government and industry groups. She has spoken at the Defense Procurement Fraud and Affirmative Civil Litigation conferences of the Department of Justice, at the Association of Directors of Investigation Conferences, before the Federal Law Enforcement Interagency Task Force, the Inspectors General Auditor Training Institute, the Federal Audit Executive Council, the Institute of Internal Auditors, American Bar Association groups, the Coalition for Government Procurement, and various other vendor organizations. Ms. Tighe is a member of the Public Contract Section of the American Bar Association and is a former Chair of the Council of Counsels to the Inspector General.

Ms. Tighe earned her law degree, with honors, from George Washington University (JD'83). She has a Master's degree in International Relations from American University (MA'79). She graduated, with distinction, from Purdue University (BA'76), where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

• Daniel I. Werfel – Controller, Office of Management and Budget

On October 13, 2009, the United States Senate confirmed Danny Werfel as the Controller of the Office of Federal Financial Management (OFFM) within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  As Controller, he is responsible for coordinating OMB's efforts to initiate government-wide improvements in all areas of financial management, including financial reporting, improper payments, and real property management.  Mr. Werfel is also responsible for coordinating the development of government-wide policy on financial accounting standards, grants management, and financial systems.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Werfel served in multiple capacities within OMB, included Deputy Controller, Chief of the Financial Integrity and Analysis Branch, Budget Examiner in the Education Branch, and Policy Analyst in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.  Mr. Werfel also served as a Trial Attorney in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.

Mr. Werfel is a recipient of both national and local awards from the Association of Government Accountants for his contributions to Federal financial management.  He was the recipient of the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Service in 2008.  Mr. Werfel also served as a member of the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board from 2006 to 2009.

Mr. Werfel holds a Masters Degree in Public Policy from Duke University, a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Bachelors Degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

• David C. Williams – Inspector General, United States Postal Service

David C. Williams was sworn in as the second independent Inspector General (IG) for the U.S. Postal Service on August 20, 2003. Williams is responsible for a staff of more than 1,100 employees — located in major offices nationwide — that conducts independent audits and investigations for the largest civilian federal agency that has $72.8 billion in annual revenues, a workforce of about 700,000 career employees and nearly 37,000 retail facilities. The office is under the general supervision of the nine Postal Service governors and is not subject to any other Postal Service supervision.

In his last position, Williams served as the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Aviation Operations at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from August 2002 until August 2003, where he managed the Aviation Inspection Program at federalized airports.

Williams has served as IG for five federal agencies. He was first appointed by President George Bush to serve as IG for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1989 to 1996. President William Clinton next appointed him IG for the Social Security Administration from 1996 to 1998, and then as IG for of the Department of the Treasury in 1998. In 1999, President Clinton named him as the first IG for Tax Administration of the Department of Treasury, where he directed a staff of 1,050 to detect fraud, waste and abuse. In 2001 President George W. Bush named Williams the Acting IG for HUD, while he was also serving at the Department of the Treasury.

Williams served in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence and began his civilian federal career as a special agent with the U.S. Secret Service. Moving up the career ladder, he served as Director of Operations in the Office of Labor Racketeering at the Department of Labor; the President’s Commission on Organized Crime; and as Director of the Office of Special Investigations at the U.S. General Accounting Office. Williams is the recipient of the U.S. Bronze Star and the Vietnamese Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam.

A native of Illinois, Williams graduated from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Ill., and received his Advanced Degree in Education and a Masters in Education from the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill. He also attended the U.S. Military Intelligence Academy, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and the U.S. Secret Service Training Academy.

• Neal S. Wolin – Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury

Neal S. Wolin is the Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Treasury, a position for which he was confirmed by the Senate on May 18, 2009. Prior to his confirmation as Deputy Secretary, Mr. Wolin served in the Obama White House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President for Economic Policy.

Before joining the Obama Administration, Mr. Wolin was the President and Chief Operating Officer of the property & casualty insurance companies of The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. He served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of The Hartford from 2001 to 2007 and oversaw the company s law, government affairs, communications, marketing and tax functions.

From 1999 to January 2001, Mr. Wolin served as General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He served as the Deputy General Counsel of the Department of the Treasury from 1995 to 1999. He previously served in the Clinton White House as the Deputy Legal Advisor to the National Security Council and as Executive Assistant to the National Security Advisor.  Mr. Wolin has also served as Special Assistant to three Directors of Central Intelligence.

Before joining the federal government, Mr. Wolin practiced law in Washington, D.C. with the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering. He served as law clerk for United States District Judge Eugene H. Nickerson in the Eastern District of New York.

Mr. Wolin was appointed by President Clinton to be a member of the President s Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States. Prior to returning to government he was on the boards of Appleseed, the RAND Corporation s Institute for Civil Justice and the International Center for Research on Women. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the bar in Illinois, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia.

He received a B.A. degree in history, summa cum laude, from Yale College; a Master of Science in Development Economics from the University of Oxford; and a J.D. from Yale Law School where he was a Coker Teaching Fellow.​