Senate Confirms Dr. Kathleen Utgoff To Head Bureau of Labor Statistics

7/30/2002

From: Bob Zachariasiewicz of the U.S. Dept. of Labor, 202-693-4650

WASHINGTON, July 30 -- U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao announced that the United States Senate has confirmed Dr. Kathleen P. Utgoff to a four-year term as the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

"I am delighted that the Senate has confirmed an accomplished economist as the commissioner for the Bureau of Labor Statistics," said Chao. "Kathleen's experience and knowledge will help ensure the continued integrity of the data that the bureau produces."

Previously, Utgoff was vice president of the Center for Naval Analyses, a research and development center in Virginia, where she was responsible for research on workforce issues, the environment, health care and infrastructure.

Utgoff also served as chief economist and partner at Groom and Nordberg, the largest employee benefits law firm in the country. Her other practice areas included the taxation of life insurance companies and corporate reorganizations.

Utgoff was widely recognized for her work as executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, an agency within the Department of Labor. During her tenure, two major pension reforms that addressed many of the structural flaws in the insurance program were passed.

Utgoff also served as a senior economist for the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President. In her role as the senior economist for labor market issues, she was responsible for the formation and operation of the inter-agency working group that developed policy and legislative strategy for the Cabinet Council on Pensions and Health.

Utgoff holds a bachelor of arts in economics from the California State University at Northridge and a Ph. D. in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles. She is also a member of the board of directors of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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