1/26/2011
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced the hiring of the leadership team for the Office of the General Counsel within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) implementation team currently housed at Treasury.
Elizabeth Warren, Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury for the CFPB, highlighted the selection of Len Kennedy to serve as General Counsel. Meredith Fuchs will serve as Principal Deputy General Counsel. Roberto Gonzalez and Michael Gordon will serve as Deputy General Counsels.
“Len Kennedy brings exactly the right combination of broad experience and vision to ensure that the CFPB will be able to get to work right away on behalf of American families,” said Warren. “The team we’re building to lead the Office of General Counsel understands the economic pressures facing consumers across the country and is dedicated to leveling the playing field between lenders and families and bringing commonsense solutions to complex problems.”
The following individuals were announced today as joining the CFPB implementation team’s Office of General Counsel:
Leonard (Len) J. Kennedy
Len Kennedy will serve as General Counsel of the CFPB implementation team. He most recently served as General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Government Affairs Officer for Sprint Nextel Corporation, where he managed a legal department of 131 attorneys and advised the board of directors, CEO and senior management on all aspects of the company’s business and legal affairs. During Kennedy’s tenure, he successfully oversaw the business and legal integration of a $35 billion merger. He previously served for five years as General Counsel of Nextel. In 2008, he was a recipient of Corporate Board Member’s America’s Top General Counsel Award. Previously, he advised providers of communications and Internet services on all aspects of communications business and regulatory matters in Washington, D.C. as a partner of Dow Lohnes. Kennedy twice served as a Senior Legal Advisor at the Federal Communications Commission. Kennedy has served on the board of many Washington-area non-profit organizations, including as Co-President and Co-Chairman of the Appleseed Foundation, a national, nonpartisan legal organization promoting systemic reform locally. He presently serves as a member of the Cornell University Council and is a member of the Board of the Sidwell Friends School. He is a graduate of the Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences and Law School.
Meredith Fuchs
Meredith Fuchs will serve as Principal Deputy General Counsel of the CFPB implementation team. She comes to the CFPB team from the United States House of Representatives, where she served as Chief Investigative Counsel of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Previously, she served as Vice President and General Counsel of the National Security Archive at George Washington University. Fuchs is a former litigation partner at Wiley Rein LLP. Fuchs has served as an officer on the D.C. Bar Board of Governors. She is the recipient of the American Library Association’s James Madison Award. Fuchs served as a law clerk for Judge Patricia M. Wald on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge Paul L. Friedman on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She is a graduate of the New York University School of Law and the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Roberto J. Gonzalez
Roberto Gonzalez will serve as Deputy General Counsel of the CFPB implementation team. He comes to the CFPB from the Office of White House Counsel where he served as Associate Counsel to the President and Special Assistant to the President. Previously he was a Senior Litigation Associate and Member of the Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation Group at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP, where he represented clients in a range of civil and criminal cases. Gonzalez served as a law clerk for Justice John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge Guido Calabresi on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Duke University.
Michael Gordon
Michael Gordon will serve as Deputy General Counsel of the CFPB implementation team. He transitions to this new role from the Treasury Department where he served as Counselor to the General Counsel. Prior to joining the Treasury Department, he held senior staff roles in committees of the U.S. House of Representatives, including as Chief Investigative Counsel of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and Senior Investigative Counsel of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Gordon was previously a Litigation Counsel at the firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP, where his practice included civil and criminal litigation, internal corporate investigations, and federal enforcement actions. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and Harvard College.
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