Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 1:50pm to 2:00pm
 
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 12:50pm to 1:00pm
 
Monday, April 19, 2021 - 2:50pm to 3:00pm
 
Tuesday, April 20, 2021 - 4:30pm to 5:30pm
Rep. Zoe Lofgren
United States Congresswoman and Chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship
United States House of Representatives
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Zoe Lofgren has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1995. She represents the 19th District of California, based in the “Capital of Silicon Valley,” San Jose, and the Santa Clara Valley. A lifelong Bay Area resident and the daughter of a truck driver and a cafeteria cook, Zoe attended public schools and attended Stanford University on a California State Scholarship, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1970. Prior to attending Stanford, Lofgren worked the night shift at the Eastman Kodak plant in Palo Alto to save money for non-tuition college expenses not covered by her scholarship. After graduating from Stanford, she attended, with the help of a scholarship, Santa Clara University School of Law, graduating cum laude in 1975. She served as a member of Congressman Don Edwards’ staff for eight years in both his San Jose and Washington DC offices. While practicing and teaching immigration law, she was first elected to the San Jose Evergreen Community College Board in 1979.  In 1980, she was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors where she served for 14 years. Following Congressman Don Edwards’ retirement in 1994 after 32 years in Congress, Zoe was elected to the House of Representatives. She currently serves on the House Judiciary Committee, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, and the Committee on House Administration.

As the Chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, and a former immigration attorney and immigration law professor, Zoe is recognized as an established champion of top-to-bottom immigration reform and a national leader in immigration policy. During the 113th Congress she played a key role in negotiating a comprehensive reform bill in the House Representatives as part of an eight-person bipartisan working group.

In 2010, in part due to her work on the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi presented Zoe with the gavel used to preside over the passage of the bill in the House of Representatives. Zoe is known for her work on patent reform, copyright issues, digital rights, and net neutrality.  She successfully fought to initiate the “e-rate” that provides affordable internet access for schools, libraries, and rural health centers, and she is the author of legislation that would allow the unlocking of cellular phones and other digital devices to give owners more control over their devices. She led a bipartisan effort in the House to decontrol encryption technology.

A staunch advocate for digital rights, Zoe was the lead early opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and led a successful fight to stop bill in the House Judiciary Committee. Her Online Communications and Geolocation Protection Act would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before retrieving communications and documents stored remotely or geolocation information about an individual.

In 2014, Zoe led a bipartisan effort to close backdoor loopholes on unwarranted government surveillance. The Massie-Lofgren amendment to the 2015 Department of Defense Appropriations Act to stop the NSA from searching Americans’ private communications collected without a warrant, and to prohibit the NSA from weakening security protections in devices and software for unwarranted surveillance purposes, passed the House by a resoundingly bipartisan vote of 293 to 123.In 2019, Zoe was appointed Chairperson of the Committee on House Administration by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and confirmed unanimously by the House Democratic Caucus. The Committee on House Administration (CHA) was established in 1947 as part of a larger effort to streamline the U.S. House of Representatives' committee system and to modernize its internal management and operations. After more than 70 years since the committee was established, CHA’s two principal functions include oversight of federal elections and day-to-day operations in the House. Historically, the committee has had a hand in shaping legislation that touches on any and all aspects of federal elections. Issues concerning corrupt practices, contested congressional elections, campaign finance disclosures, and credentials and qualifications of House Members also fall under its purview. Additionally, she is a member of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, formed to make Congress more transparent, unifying and responsive to the needs and aspirations of the American people.

Zoe is also the Chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation. It is the most diverse delegation in the House and outnumbers all other state House delegations.

Zoe is married to John Marshall Collins and is the mother of two.

SESSIONS:
Moderator: 
Austin T. Fragomen, Jr.
Chairman, Executive Committee
Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP
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Over the course of his career in immigration, Austin served as assistant counsel, subcommittee on immigration, citizenship and international law, U.S. House of Representatives, and as an adjunct professor of law at New York University Law School.

Austin has testified before committees of Congress on a variety of business immigration topics.

Currently, Austin serves as Chairman of the Business Mechanism of the Global Forum on Migration and Development and has participated at a number of GFMD and UN sponsored events and proceedings, including the Global Compact on Migration. He also serves as Vice-Chair of Jesuit Refugee Services and a Board Member of the Center for Migration Studies. Additionally, Austin is an Advisory Board Member of the Investor Migration Council.

He is a co-author of the treatise Immigration law and Business, as well as a series of Handbooks published by Thomson Reuters/West.

SESSIONS:
Martin J. Walsh
Secretary of U.S. Department of Labor
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Martin J. Walsh was sworn in as the 29th Secretary of Labor on March 23, 2021. A lifelong champion of equity and fairness, and a proud product of the City of Boston, Secretary Walsh leads the U.S. Department of Labor with a strong connection to working people, and a commitment to creating an economy that works for all.

In 1997, he was elected to serve as a State Representative for one of the most diverse districts in Massachusetts. There, he focused on creating good jobs, protecting workers' rights, expanding mental health treatment, and investing in public transit.

Following his time as a State Representative, Secretary Walsh spent the last seven years as the Mayor of the City of Boston. While mayor, he led the creation of close to 140,000 jobs and helped secure a statewide $15/hour minimum wage, paid sick leave, and paid parental leave. He established Universal, high-quality Pre-Kindergarten for all children, and free community college for low-income students.

Secretary Walsh was a national leader in the response to COVID-19, getting PPE to first responders and nursing homes; funding emergency child care for healthcare and frontline workers; halting evictions and providing rental relief; and setting up multiple funds to help small businesses survive. His work early in the pandemic to pause construction and establish safety requirements has been lauded as a model by both unions and employers alike.

As Mayor of Boston, Secretary Walsh also made his mark as a labor leader. After following his father into Laborers Local 223 in Boston, he rose to head the Building and Construction Trades Council from 2011 to 2013. He worked with business and community leaders to promote high-quality development, and he created a program called Building Pathways that has become a model for increasing diversity in the workplace and providing good career opportunities for women and people of color.

Born and raised in the neighborhood of Dorchester by immigrant parents, Secretary Walsh is driven to ensure our nation's economy works for everyone. Secretary Walsh is a survivor of Burkitt lymphoma and is a proud member of the recovery community who has worked to expand addiction treatment throughout his career. While working full-time as a legislator, he returned to school to earn a degree in Political Science at Boston College.

SESSIONS:
Rep. Virginia Foxx
U.S. House of Representatives
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Congresswoman Virginia Foxx represents North Carolina’s 5th District in the United States House of Representatives.  She is Republican Leader of the House Committee on Education and Labor and also serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.  From 2013 to 2016, she served as Secretary of the House Republican Conference.  Before serving on Capitol Hill, Foxx spent 10 years in the North Carolina State Senate.  She began her career in the field of higher education, which included serving as a sociology instructor at Appalachian State University and holding several administrative positions at ASU, including Assistant Dean of the General College.  She also served as President of Mayland Community College.  Foxx is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a Master of Arts in College Teaching in sociology.  She also holds a Doctor of Education degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

SESSIONS:
Sen. Maggie Hassan
United States Senator
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United States Senator Maggie Hassan is committed to working with members of both parties to represent New Hampshire values and to solve problems in order to expand middle class opportunity, support small businesses, and keep America safe, secure, and free. She is the second woman in American history to be elected both Governor and United States Senator, along with fellow New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen. 

Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016, Senator Hassan is working to combat the heroin, fentanyl, and opioid crisis; expand access to job training and make college more affordable for our students and families; help innovative businesses grow and create good jobs; and build a more inclusive economic future where all people who work hard to get ahead can stay ahead. 

She is also focused on strengthening national security; protecting Social Security and Medicare; ensuring that veterans get the services that they need and deserve; combating climate change and preserving our natural resources; and protecting a woman's right to make her own health care decisions. 

Senator Hassan’s committee assignments allow her to focus on these as well as other critical priorities facing New Hampshire’s families, small businesses, and economy. She is a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) Committee; the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee; the Finance Committee; and the Joint Economic Committee.

Senator Hassan was drawn to public service as an advocate fighting to ensure that children like her son Ben, who experiences severe disabilities, would be fully included in their communities and have the same opportunities that all parents want for their children.

In 1999, then-Governor Shaheen asked her to serve on the Advisory Committee to the Adequacy in Education and Finance Commission. Her experience as a business attorney and as a parent of a child who experiences disabilities enabled her to provide a unique perspective as the commission did its work.

Senator Hassan was first elected to the New Hampshire Senate in 2004, serving the people of the 23rd District, which included ten Seacoast towns. During her six years in office, she was selected by her colleagues to serve as President Pro Tempore and Majority Leader of the State Senate.

In 2013, she was sworn in as the 81st Governor of New Hampshire. Throughout her two terms as Governor, she responsibly balanced the state budget; created a business-friendly environment that encouraged innovation and saw New Hampshire’s unemployment rate drop to among the lowest in the nation; worked to implement a comprehensive, hands-on approach to the heroin, fentanyl and opioid crisis; and froze in-state tuition at state universities for the first time in 25 years while lowering tuition at community colleges. 

Maggie Hassan was born on February 27, 1958. She earned her B.A. from Brown University and her J.D. from the Northeastern School of Law. She and her husband, Tom, who serves as the President of School Year Abroad, live in Newfields and are the proud parents of two children, Ben (32) and Meg (28).

SESSIONS:
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:50pm
Chair Charlotte A. Burrows
Chair
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
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Charlotte A. Burrows was designated by President Biden as Chair of the EEOC on Jan. 20, 2021.  She was initially nominated to serve as a Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in 2014.  The U.S. Senate later unanimously confirmed her to a second term ending in 2023.

Chair Burrows has advocated for strong civil rights protections and robust cooperation between the Commission, employers, and employees to advance equal opportunity in the workplace.  She seeks to enhance the Commission's enforcement of all laws within its jurisdiction, focusing in particular on initiatives to combat harassment, foster pay equity, and advance diversity and inclusion.  While at the Commission, she has worked to increase the agency's outreach to Native Americans, vulnerable immigrant and migrant communities, and other traditionally underserved populations.  In addition, Chair Burrows is particularly interested in the impact of technology and big data on civil rights and employee privacy.


Prior to her appointment to the EEOC, Chair Burrows served as Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where she worked on a broad range of civil and criminal matters, including employment litigation, voting rights, combatting racial profiling, and implementing the Violence Against Women Act, among others.


Chair Burrows previously served as General Counsel for Civil and Constitutional Rights to Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee and later on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.  During her time on Capitol Hill, she worked on a variety of legislative initiatives, including the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008.

Chair Burrows also held several roles in the Civil Rights Division's Employment Litigation Section at DOJ, including Deputy Chief of the Section.  There, she represented the United States in all phases of civil litigation, including trial, to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Earlier in her career, she served as a judicial clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and was an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton, LLP.

Chair Burrows received an A.B. from Princeton University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

SESSIONS:
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 12:00pm to 12:50pm
 
Tuesday, April 20, 2021 - 4:20pm to 4:30pm
 
Tuesday, April 20, 2021 - 3:20pm to 3:30pm
 
Tuesday, April 20, 2021 - 2:20pm to 2:30pm