Today, for the first time since August 21, 2003, the National Labor Relations Board has a full complement of five Senate confirmed members. Four new members, all nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed last month by the U.S. Senate have been sworn into office. NLRB Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce was also confirmed last month to an additional five year term on the Board. Biographies of the five members of the Board are below:
- Mark Gaston Pearce is currently Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a position he has held since August 2011. He has served as a Member of the NLRB since March 2010. Mr. Pearce was a founding partner at Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux and previously a partner at Lipsitz, Green, Fahringer, Roll, Salisbury & Cambria LLP. From 1979 to 1994, he was a district trial specialist for the NLRB in Buffalo, NY. He has served by appointment of the Governor as a Board Member of the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals, and he has taught labor studies courses at Cornell University’s School of Industrial Labor Relations Extension. Mr. Pearce received a B.A. from Cornell University and a J.D. from State University of New York at Buffalo. Board Chairman Pearce will be sworn in later this month for a term ending August 27, 2018, and the President has designated him to continue to serve as Chairman.
- Nancy Schiffer was Associate General Counsel to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) from 2000 to 2012. Previously, she was Deputy General Counsel to the United Auto Workers (UAW) from 1998 to 2000. She also worked as Associate General Counsel for the UAW from 1982 to 1998. Earlier in her career, Ms. Schiffer was a staff attorney in the Detroit Regional Office of the National Labor Relations Board and worked as an attorney in private practice. Ms. Schiffer received her B.A. from Michigan State University and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. Board Member Schiffer was sworn in on August 2, 2013, for a term ending December 16, 2014.
- Harry I. Johnson, III was a partner with law firm Arent Fox LLP, a position he held since 2010. Previously, Mr. Johnson worked at the Jones Day law firm as a partner from 2006 to 2010 and as an associate from 1994 to 2005. In 2011, he was recognized by The Daily Journal as one of the “Top Labor & Employment Attorneys in California”. Mr. Johnson received a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University, an M.A.L.D. from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Board Member Johnson was sworn in on August 12, 2013 for a term that expires on August 27, 2015.
- Kent Hirozawa was chief counsel to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairman Mark Pearce. Before joining the NLRB staff in 2010, Mr. Hirozawa was a partner in the New York law firm Gladstein, Reif and Meginniss LLP, where he advised clients on a variety of legal and strategic issues, including Federal and state labor and employment law matters. Mr. Hirozawa previously served as a field attorney for the NLRB from 1984 to 1986. He was a pro se law clerk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1982 to 1984. He received a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. Board Member Hirozawa was sworn in on August 5, 2013 for a term that expires on August 27, 2016.
- Philip A. Miscimarra was a partner in the Labor and Employment Group of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, a position he held since 2005. Since 1997, Mr. Miscimarra has been a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School. Mr. Miscimarra worked at Seyfarth Shaw LLP as a partner from 1990 to 2005 and as an associate from 1987 to 1989. Mr. Miscimarra received a B.A. from Duquesne University, an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Board Member Miscimarra was sworn in on August 7, 2013 for a term that expires on December 16, 2017.
Established in 1935, the National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency that protects employers and employees from unfair labor practices, and protects the right of private sector employees to join together, with or without a union, to improve wages, benefits and working conditions. The NLRB conducts hundreds of workplace elections and investigates thousands of unfair labor practice charges each year.
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