41st Annual Federal Sector Labor Relations & Labor Law Conference

Timothy Curry Related Seminars and Products

Deputy Associate Director, Accountability and Workforce Relations

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Tim Curry is the Deputy Associate Director for Accountability and Workforce Relations at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

In this capacity, he serves as an advisor to the OPM Director on government-wide programs for labor-management relations and employee accountability. Mr. Curry first came to OPM in August 2010 as the Deputy Associate Director for Partnership and Labor Relations. He also served as the Acting Director of Communications.

Prior to coming to OPM, Mr. Curry served as the Executive Director, Labor Management and Employee Relations for the Department of Defense (DoD) where he served as the principal policy advisor on labor and employee relations matters. Mr. Curry has over 32 years of experience as a human resources professional in operating and policy level positions in the Office of Secretary of Defense, DoD Education Activity, Department of the Air Force, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. His background includes labor relations, employee relations, performance management, and awards programs.

Mr. Curry holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a concentration in Personnel Management from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

Tristin Green Related Seminars and Products

Professor of Law & William M. Rains Fellow

Loyola LA Law School

Tristin Green is a Professor of Law and William M. Rains Fellow at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.  She specializes in laws affecting inequality, especially employment discrimination law. Green often draws on the social sciences in her work to better understand how discrimination operates and how laws can be better framed and implemented to reduce discrimination and enhance equality. She has authored more than twenty chapters, articles, and essays, which have appeared in the Southern California Law Review, Yale Law Journal Forum, Harvard Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Law Review, and California Law Review, among others. Her book, Discrimination Laundering: The Rise of Organizational Innocence and the Crisis of Equal Opportunity Law, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2017.  She is currently working on a second book, Racial Emotion at Work: Dismantling Discrimination and Building Racial Justice in the Workplace, due out with UC Press in fall 2023. 

Julie Lenggenhager Related Seminars and Products

Deputy Director of Field Operations and Organizing

National Treasury Employees Union

Julie A. Lenggenhager is the Deputy Director of Field Operations and Organizing at the National Treasury Employees Union, the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees, representing 150,000 workers in 34 departments and agencies.  She works directly underneath the Director of Field Operations and Organizing who is responsible for managing and overseeing NTEU’s eight field offices, organizing and learning and development departments.  Prior to becoming the Deputy Director, she served as an Assistant Counsel in NTEU’s Chicago Field Office for fifteen years where she represented employees at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Treasury.  Her extensive experience includes arbitrating discipline and contract interpretation matters and representing employees before the EEOC and Merit Systems Protection Board.  Prior to joining NTEU, Julie worked as an Associate Attorney at a private law firm representing private and public sector labor unions and Taft-Hartley health and welfare funds.  She earned her Juris Doctor and a Certificate in Employment Law from Saint Louis University School of Law.  She received her Bachelor of Arts from Illinois Wesleyan University, with a major in Political Science and a minor in Diplomatic Relations.  Julie is licensed to practice law in both Missouri and Illinois.

Michelle A. Travis Related Seminars and Products

Professor of Law and Director of the Work Law and Justice Program

University of San Francisco School of Law

Michelle Travis is a Professor of Law and Director of the Work Law and Justice Program at the University of San Francisco School of Law. She is a founding member of the Work and Family Researchers Network and a former Chair of the AALS Section on Employment Discrimination Law. Michelle is an expert on sex discrimination, disability accommodation, workplace flexibility, and work/family integration law. Her interdisciplinary scholarship reveals how antidiscrimination law could be used to eliminate structural, organizational, and cognitive biases in the workplace. Her most recent article, A Post-Pandemic Antidiscrimination Approach to Workplace Flexibility, demonstrates how employers’ experiences during the global pandemic support the use of remote work to advance workplace equity and inclusion.

Michelle teaches courses on employment law and civil litigation, and she has won multiple teaching awards. She has a J.D. from Stanford Law School and a B.A. in psychology from Cornell University. Her recent book, Dads For Daughters, focuses on engaging men in advancing gender equity. Michelle is also the author of an award-winning children’s picture book, My Mom Has Two Jobs, which celebrates working moms.

Eric Johnson Related Seminars and Products

Team Lead, Hatch Act Unit

U.S. Office of Special Counsel

Eric Johnson is an experienced attorney and Team Lead with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel’s Hatch Act Unit.  The Hatch Act imposes certain limitations on the political activities of federal, state, and local government employees.  Eric advises on the applicability of the Hatch Act, investigates alleged violations, and prosecutes violations before the Merit Systems Protection Board.  Prior to joining OSC, Eric worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce in the Ethics Law and Programs Division.  He received his undergraduate degree from Boston College and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

Jonathan C. Goldman Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Law Offices of Goldman & Ehrlich, Chtd.

For 30 years, Jonathan Goldman has been representing individuals and small businesses in employment disputes. His practice includes litigation of employment matters in state and federal courts, state and federal administrative agencies, and civil service forums. This also includes representing federal employees in EEOC and MSPB proceedings. He also has extensive experience in drafting, reviewing and negotiating employment contracts, non-compete agreements, and severance agreements.

Katherine Beaumont Kern Related Seminars and Products

Administrative Judge

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board

KATHERINE (KATE) BEAUMONT KERN has served as a Federal Administrative Judge with the Merit Systems Protection Board since 2014. Prior to coming to MSPB, Kate worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for ten years – 5 years for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio and 5 years for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. Kate worked in the Civil Division of each office, prosecuting civil fraud cases and defending the United States and its agencies and employees in civil cases. Kate started her career working in private practice in Chicago after graduating from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 1998 and a law degree (cum laude) from the same school in 2001. Kate was an adjunct professor in the trial advocacy program at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin and has served as a guest lecturer at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law; the University of Illinois School of Law; and the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s training facility (National Advocacy Center) in Columbia, South Carolina. 

David Lidow Related Seminars and Products

Administrative Judge

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board

David R. Lidow is an Administrative Judge with the Merit Systems Protection Board in the Central Regional Office located in Chicago.  The MSPB is an independent, quasi-judicial agency that adjudicates federal employment disputes and whistleblower retaliation claims.   He previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the civil division, representing the United States in employment discrimination cases, claims brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act, civil rights cases, and pursuing fraud claims on behalf of various government programs. 

Jennifer Sarna Related Seminars and Products

Assistant Regional Counsel

Office of the General Counsel, Region V, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Jennifer R. Sarna has been an Assistant Regional Counsel with the Office of the General Counsel (OGC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in Chicago, Illinois since 2005.  She represents HHS before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Merit Systems Protection Board, and Departmental Appeals Board, and advises clients on a variety of labor, employment, civil rights, and health law matters.  Ms. Sarna was previously an Attorney in the HHS OGC Claims and Employment Law Branch of the General Law Division in Washington, D.C., where she began her legal career in 1999.  Ms. Sarna served as Special Assistant to the General Counsel in 2004 and received the OGC Excellence of Service Award in 2018.  She is a graduate of Knox College and Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.

Martin H. Malin Related Seminars and Products

Professor of Law Emeritus

Chicago-Kent College of Law

Martin H. Malin jointed the Chicago-Kent faculty in 1980 and taught  Labor Law, Employment Discrimination, Public Sector Employees, ADR in the Workplace, and Contracts. He assumed emeritus status on June 1, 2021. He received his B.A. from Michigan State University's James Madison College and his J.D. from George Washington University, where he was an editor of the law review and elected to the Order of the Coif. Prior to Chicago-Kent, he served as law clerk to United States District Judge Robert E. DeMascio in Detroit and on the faculty of Ohio State University.

In 1996, Malin founded Chicago-Kent’s Institute for Law and the Workplace.  He served as director until his retirement in 2021.  He built the Institute into an intellectual home for the labor and employment law community in Chicago and nationally.  On March 10, 2022, the University renamed the Institute in his honor.  It is now known as the Martin H. Malin Institute for Law and the Workplace.

Malin is a former national chair of the Labor Relations and Employment Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools, a former Secretary of the ABA Section on Labor and Employment Law, a former member of the Executive Committee of The Labor Law Group, and a former member of the Board of Governors and vice president of the National Academy of Arbitrators and a former member of the Board of Governors of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. During 1984 and 1985, Malin served as consultant to the Illinois State, Local and Educational Labor Relations Boards and drafted the boards' regulations implementing the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act and the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act. From 2004 to 2008, he served as reporter to the Neutrality Project of the Association of Labor Relations Agencies, which produced a mini-treatise on labor board and mediation agency impartiality. In October 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Malin as a member of the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP), which resolves impasses in collective bargaining between federal agencies and unions that represent their employees. Obama reappointed Malin in 2014. He served until May 2017 when he and the other Obama appointees were removed by President Trump. In 2021, President Joseph Biden appointed Malin as Chairman of FSIP. In 2016, the ABA presented Malin with the Arvid Anderson Award for lifetime contributions to public sector labor law.

Malin has written extensively on all aspects of labor and employment law. He has published more than 80 articles and seven books, including Public Sector Employment (West 2004, 4th ed. 2022), the leading casebook on the law governing public employees, and Labor Law in the Contemporary Workplace (West 2009, 3rd ed. 2019), a leading casebook on labor law. He has ranked in the top 10 percent of authors in the Social Science Research Network database in terms of downloads of his work

He has a B.A. from Michigan State University and a J.D. from George Washington University.

Wynter Allen Related Seminars and Products

FSIP Member

Wynter Patrice Allen is a former Partner at the Alden Law Group, PLLC in Washington, D.C. where she practiced labor and employment law. Ms. Allen has also served as a Commissioner on the District of Columbia’s Commission on Human Rights since 2017. From 2011 until 2013, Ms. Allen served as the Chair of the District of Columbia’s Public Employee Relations Board. From 2006-2010, Ms. Allen was a Staff Attorney at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Ms. Allen has served as an Adjunct Professor for the Elon Law School Externship Program and Howard University School of Law. Ms. Allen has a law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Jeanne Charles Related Seminars and Products

Arbitrator & Mediator and FSIP Member

National Academy of Arbitrators

Jeanne Charles is a native of Chicago but resides in Florida with a national ADR practice including arbitration, mediation and fact-finding predominately in the areas of workplace disputes. She earned her Juris Doctorate (JD) degree from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. She currently serves as a labor arbitrator on various panels in Chicago, Miami and New York in addition to the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the US Anti-Doping Agency and Major League Baseball (MLB). Ms. Charles is also a Special Magistrate for the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) and is listed with the American Arbitration Association, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and National Mediation Board. In September 2021, Ms. Charles was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden to the Federal Labor Relations Authority Federal Service Impasses Panel (Panel). The Panel is an independent entity within the Federal Labor Relations Authority. The Panel’s Chairman and Members serve on a part-time basis and aid in resolving negotiation impasses between federal agencies and labor organizations. Ms. Charles is an adjunct professor at Penn State University’s School of Labor and Employment Relations where she teaches a graduate course in Human Resources and Employment Relations. She also serves as an adjunct professor for the University of Arizona Law School teaching advanced negotiations. Ms. Charles speaks regularly in various venues that include the American Bar Association, American Arbitration Association, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and nation-wide bar association events. She is a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators and a Fellow with the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. More detailed information can be found at www.JCharles@JCharlesADR.com.

Howard Friedman Related Seminars and Products

FSIP Member

Federal Service Impasses Panel, FLRA

Howard Friedman served 25 years in the federal government as an attorney and 23 years as President of the National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 245, at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). A former chief spokesperson and negotiator for the Trademark attorneys at the USPTO, Mr. Friedman is experienced in federal labor law, negotiating collective bargaining agreements, labor-management and employee relations, government operations, and mediating and resolving workplace disputes. He was the labor co-chair of the USPTO and Department of Commerce labor-management forum. A former President of the Society of Federal Labor & Employee Relations Professionals, Mr. Friedman teaches federal labor relations to human resource professionals, agency managers, mediators and arbitrators, and union officials. As a long-standing member of the USPTO Trademark Public Advisory Committee, he advised its director on improving operations, performance, budget, and fee structure policies. Mr. Friedman played an integral role in creating and growing the USPTO’s well-known telework program, which started in 1997 with 18 Trademark examining attorneys and now has over 11,000 employees able to work from home. Mr. Friedman graduated from Delaware Law School and the University of Maryland.

Joseph F. Slater Related Seminars and Products

Distinguished University Professor, Eugene N. Balk Professor of Law and Values at the University of Toledo College of Law and FSIP Member

University of Toledo College of Law

Joseph Slater is a Distinguished University Professor and the Eugene N. Balk Professor of Law and Values at the University of Toledo College of Law. He holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, and a PhD in history from Georgetown University. Before coming to Toledo in 1999, he practiced labor and employment law in Washington, D.C. for over a decade. Since coming to Toledo, he has published numerous books and articles on labor and employment law, especially in the area of public-sector labor law. Such works include Public Sector Employment: Cases and Materials (with Marty Malin, Ann Hodges, Jeffrey Hirsch, Anne Lofaso, and Michael Oswalt) (West Publishing, 4th ed. forthcoming 2021); Modern Labor Law in the Private and Public Sectors (with Seth Harris, Anne Lofaso, Charlotte Garden, and Richard Griffin) (Carolina Academic Press, 3rd ed. 2020) and Public Workers:  Government Employee Unions, the Law, and the State, 1900-62 (Cornell U. Press, 2004). 

In 2021, Prof. Slater was appointed to the Federal Service Impasses Panel. In 2019, Professor Slater testified before the Congressional hearing, “Standing With Public Servants:  Protecting the Right to Organize” on the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act and the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act. He has presented many papers on public-sector labor law at conferences of academics and of practicing lawyers. He has made numerous media appearances on labor issues, including interviews on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “Marketplace,” has published op-eds in the Chicago Sun Times, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Cincinnati Enquirer, and has been quoted in the the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, The Atlantic, MSNBC.com, Reuters, Fortune, Bloomberg, Le Monde (Paris, France), and the blogs Jurist, Salon, and Think Progress. He is a member of the Labor Law Group, the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, and is a Fellow of the American Bar Association (all invitation-only organizations).

Pamela Schwartz Related Seminars and Products

FSIP Member

Federal Service Impasses Panel, FLRA

Pamela Schwartz has over 20 years of experience in federal labor management relations. She held positions with increasing levels of authority within the Patent Office Professional Association, an independent federal labor union representing over 8000 patent examiners and other patent professionals at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This culminated in three years as Union President. During her years as chief negotiator, she represented the Union on interest-based and joint management/labor bargaining teams, and led collective bargaining negotiations, including appearances before the Federal Service Impasses Panel. She served as a Patent Examiner with the USPTO for over 35 years. She received her BSChE degree from Drexel University and her Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University Law School.

Tamiko Watkins Related Seminars and Products

Assistant General Counsel at the Millennium Challenge Corporation and FSIP Member

Millennium Challenge Corporation

Tamiko Walker Watkins, Esq. is an Assistant General Counsel at the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). In this role, Mrs. Watkins serves as MCC’s senior legal advisor on employment and administrative law and is responsible for managing the administrative law team. She also oversees the MCC’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program office, whistleblower protection program, and serves as the Alternate Designated Agency Ethics Official. Prior to MCC, she served as a Senior Trial Attorney and Assistant Counsel for the Department of the Navy. She provided counsel and training on labor and employment law and represented the Navy in litigation. Mrs. Watkins began her legal career as a Trial Attorney for Allstate Insurance Company and Judicial Law Clerk for the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas. In addition, Mrs. Watkins is an Adjunct Law Professor at Howard University School of Law. She also has notable alternative dispute resolution experience. She served as a Mediator for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, an Arbitrator for the District of Columbia Bar’s Attorney/Client Arbitration Board, and an Arbitrator for the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas. She received her Master of Laws degree in Litigation and Dispute Resolution from the George Washington University Law School, Juris Doctor from Widener University School of Law, and Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations from Hampton University.

Jennifer M. Cassell Related Seminars and Products

Administrative Judge

Merit Systems Protection Board

Jennifer M. Cassell joined the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) as an Administrative Judge in 2020. Prior to coming to the MSPB, Jennifer worked as an Assistant Regional Counsel with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the General Counsel (OGC) for 11 years. Prior to joining OGC, she clerked for Judge Ann Williams on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Jennifer received her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law. She previously taught advanced legal writing at her alma mater.

Daniel Fine Related Seminars and Products

Administrative Judge

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board

Dan Fine joined the Merit Systems Protection Board as an Administrative Judge in 2019. His career in government began as staffer on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Most recently, he was a partner at Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg LLP, where he worked on a variety of litigation matters. 

Gina Rozman Related Seminars and Products

Administrative Judge

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board

Gina N. Rozman joined the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) as an Administrative Judge in 2022. Prior to coming to the MSPB, Gina worked as an Assistant Regional Counsel with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the General Counsel (OGC) for 9 years. Before she joined OGC, Gina was a litigation associate at Winston & Strawn LLP.  Gina received her J.D. and undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. 

Mary Senoo Related Seminars and Products

Administrative Judge

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board

Mary Senoo is an Administrative Judge with the Merit Systems Protection Board. Prior to joining the MSPB in 2019, Mary spent nineteen years with the Social Security Administration’s Office of the General Counsel in Chicago.   During most of her career at SSA, her practice focused on employment and labor law, including negotiated contract arbitrations, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission litigation and an occasional Merit Systems Protection Board appeal.  She also spent time as a Special Assistant United States Attorney handling Social Security fraud prosecutions in the Northern District of Illinois.  For her last 9 years at SSA, Mary served as Senior Counsel and oversaw the Chicago Region’s EEOC litigation practice and arbitrations.  Mary received her J.D. from Temple University in 1999 after having spent several years living and working in Japan.

Brooke Worden Related Seminars and Products

Administrative Judge

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board

Brooke Worden is an Administrative Judge with the Merit Systems Protection Board.  Prior to joining the MSPB in 2022, Brooke worked as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor for 10 years, litigating various employment-related cases.  After receiving her J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law, she spent three years in federal clerkships before joining DOL as an honors attorney.

David Eddy Related Seminars and Products

Special Counsel and Acting Chief Counsel to the Chairman

Federal Labor Relations Authority

David S. Eddy III is the Special Counsel, and the Acting Chief Counsel, to Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) Chairman Susan Tsui Grundmann.  At the FLRA, David also has served as:  the Special Counsel, and Acting Chief Counsel, to Chairman Ernie DuBester; the Chief Counsel to Chairmen Colleen Duffy Kiko and Carol Waller Pope; a Supervisory Attorney for Chairman Pope; an Attorney-Advisor for then-Member Pope and for Chair Phyllis N. Segal; and a detailee to the FLRA’s San Francisco Regional Office.  David also worked at the National Labor Relations Board, where he was the Assistant Chief Counsel for Representation Appeals, a Senior Counsel or Attorney-Advisor for several Board members, and a detailee to the Solicitor’s Office.  He also served as the Assistant General Counsel for Administrative Law at the U.S. International Trade Commission.  David has a BA in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of Rochester; a JD from Cornell Law School; and a Certificate of Public Management from the USDA Graduate School, in conjunction with George Washington University.  He also completed the Senior Managers in Government program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.   

Steve Keller Related Seminars and Products

Senior Counsel for Compensation

National Treasury Employees Union

STEPHEN J. KELLER is Senior Counsel for Compensation with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).  Since 1993, he has served as NTEU's Chief Spokesperson in bargaining of master collective bargaining agreements and national-level mid-terms agreements with many Federal agencies represented by NTEU  In addition to negotiation of master collective bargaining agreements and mid-term agreements, Mr. Keller has also negotiated comprehensive pay and benefit agreements with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission(CFTC), covering matters such as pay structures, annual pay increases (including pay-for-performance and comprehensive redesign of performance management systems), agency contributions for retirement and health benefits,  student loan reimbursement and travel and relocation benefits,.  He has also provided staff support to each NTEU National President in their role as a member of the Federal Salary Council and serves on the FSC working group making recommendations on the BLS salary survey methodology and changes to federal locality pay areas.   He also provided staff support for the National President as a member of the National Council on Federal Labor-Management Relations, serving on working groups which developed recommendations for improvements in performance management, providing guidance on metrics and reviewing the results of the (b)(1) bargaining pilots established under Executive Order 13522.   Mr. Keller has also served on a number of labor-management forums and partnership councils, utilizing interest-based problem-solving techniques and pre-decisional involvement to collaboratively address and resolve labor-management issues and employee concerns.

Prior to joining the NTEU Negotiations Department,, Mr. Keller served as an Assistant Counsel/Field Representative in NTEU's Washington, D.C. Field Office for five years, representing employees and local NTEU chapters in the IRS, Customs Service, and other agencies in grievances, arbitrations and local negotiations.  Before this, he served for 5 years as an attorney in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.  Mr. Keller is a graduate of the Boston University School of Law and Union College (Schenectady, New York).

Jeff Rosenblum Related Seminars and Products

Chief Human Capital Officer

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Jeff Rosenblum is the Chief Human Capital Officer for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). He came to the FDIC in 2018 as an Assistant General Counsel in the Legal Division. Jeff previously served in various attorney roles in the private sector and the Federal government, including as Deputy General Counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission and General Counsel for the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. Jeff is also an Adjunct Professor at George Mason Law School and American University’s Graduate School of Public Affairs.

Jeff is a proud alumnus of the University of Maryland and Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and an avid tennis player and fan.

Dennis McGuire Related Seminars and Products

Chief Counsel for the Midwest District

Office of General Counsel

In my current position as Chief Counsel for the Midwest District, I oversee sixty-seven attorneys and support staff, providing legal advice to four Hospital Networks across the Midwest for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), twelve  Regional Offices of the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), over two dozen  cemeteries of the National Cemetery Administration (NCA), a centralized national VHA HR office, two VBA fiduciary hubs, and the National Veterans Canteen Service.  I have been a member of the Senior Executive Service since 2008.  Prior to joining the VA I owned and operated my own law firm in Columbus, Ohio focusing on plaintiffs labor and employment law.  I won several jury trials in private practice including one verdict for over a million dollars.  As a Senior Executive in OGC, I Chair OGC’s Education and Training Committee, which is responsible for developing internal training programs for attorneys and support staff.

Jeff Friday Related Seminars and Products

General Counsel

Nation Federation of Federal Employees, IAMAW, AFL-CIO

Jeff Friday is currently the General Counsel of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), IAM, AFL-CIO. He has held that position since late 2016. Immediately prior to that he served as an Assistant General Counsel, Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) for a year.

Before that Jeff worked at the National Treasury Employees Union, (NTEU) for nearly 30 years in Chicago and then DC as Assistant Counsel and then National Counsel.

Jeff started his labor career back in 1982 at the PTO, where he was a Trademark Attorney and an officer, steward and then President of NTEU Chapter 245.

Heidi Burakiewicz Related Seminars and Products

Partner

Burakiewicz & DePriest, PLLC

Attorney Heidi Burakiewicz has devoted her career to helping employees and unions navigate the full spectrum of labor and employment issues facing workers, including sexual harassment, workplace discrimination, and wage & hour violations, often in class and collective actions.  She is a founding member of Burakiewicz & DePriest, PLLC, in Washington, D.C.  The firm practices nationally, with a focus on federal employee representation.  Contact: hburakiewicz@bdlawdc.com; (240) 751-6583.    

Shannon Dahn Related Seminars and Products

Privacy Program Chief

FDIC

Shannon Dahn is Chief of the FDIC’s Privacy Program, which is responsible for managing privacy risks and complying with privacy requirements across the Corporation. This includes breach response, conducting privacy impact assessments, privacy training, and other efforts to ensure proper handling of personally identifiable information (PII) at FDIC. Prior to joining FDIC, Ms. Dahn served as a detailee to the OMB Office of Information Regulatory Affairs where she contributed to the drafting of the OMB breach response guidance and other Federal privacy policy guidance. Ms. Dahn began her privacy career at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), where she held various privacy positions at headquarters and operational components.

Partap Verma Related Seminars and Products

Senior Privacy Counsel

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Partap Verma is currently the Senior Privacy Counsel at the Federal Insurance Deposit Corporation. He has practiced FOIA, Privacy Law and Information Sharing for the past 18 years at 3 different Federal Agencies. During his time at the U.S. Department of State, Partap worked on negotiating, drafting and implementing interagency information sharing agreements involving the sharing of sensitive national security data with a variety of intel agencies including the CIA, NSA, FBI, TSA, TSC and NCTC. He also worked as a Diplomat in India and Turkey – where he worked on sensitive matters including biometric programming and technology transfer issues.  As an attorney at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Partap was the primary counsel assigned to the Department’s $3 Billion Transformation Project – which was the largest paper to electronic transition in the Agency’s history. He was among the first to be a part of an effort to successfully implement Agile Development in conjunction with real-time Privacy legal analysis and was also recognized for creating a fully custom in-house identity proofing system – that was also recognized as the first of its kind in the federal space.

As Senior Privacy Counsel at the FDIC, Partap manages all Privacy inquiries from across FDIC’s 7 Regional/Field Offices as well as its main headquarters in Washington D.C. and Arlington Virginia. He also approves all Privacy compliance documents like SORNs, PIA, PTA as well as Information Sharing Agreements. Most notably, he was recently recognized for drafting and finalizing an Information Sharing Agreement with the State of NY and NYC in record time – after the failure of Signature Bank. Partap is a certified mediator and has conducted over 75 EEO related mediations. He received his J.D. with Honors from the Pennsylvania State University School of Law in 2005 along with certificates in Transnational Law from Duke University and the University of London.

Anthony G. Volini Related Seminars and Products

Professor of Legal Practice Legal Writing

DePaul College of Law

Anthony G. Volini is a Professor of Legal Practice at DePaul University College of Law where he teaches US and EU Data Privacy Law and IP legal skills courses.  With his background in patent practice and his recently completed MS in Cybersecurity (network security concentration), his scholarship focuses on the intersection of technology and the law, and he has published in several top technology law journals.

June Calhoun Related Seminars and Products

Supervisory Administrative Judge

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

June Wallace Calhoun has worked for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the Chicago District Office for more than 27 years. Judge Calhoun spent the majority of her tenure with the Commission as a Senior Trial Attorney prosecuting employment discrimination cases under the fierce leadership of Regional Attorney John C. Hendrickson. Beginning in 2015, she accepted the challenge of joining the ranks of elite Administrative Judges in the Commission’s Federal Hearings Unit. Judge Calhoun received her Bachelors of Science Degree in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois and her Juris Doctorate of Law Degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Law, Madison, Wisconsin. Judge Calhoun also worked as an Associate at Chapman and Cutler for three years prior to joining the Commission. She is blissfully married and the mother of two awesome teenage sons.

Catherine Hunter Related Seminars and Products

Administrative Judge

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Catherine Hunter started her federal career in 2010 with the Social Security Administration (SSA) as an Attorney-Advisor. In 2013, she joined management as a Supervisory Attorney-Advisor. While a manager with SSA, Cathy held various positions in multiple hearing offices. During this time, Cathy gained extensive experience with complex labor-employment relations matters, including but not limited to, investigating Administrative Law Judge bias and misconduct matters, planning and implementing disciplinary actions, and conducting investigative interviews in discrimination and hostile work environment cases. In October 2022, Cathy joined the EEOC as an Administrative Judge.