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Biography of James L. Connaughton
James L. Connaughton was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate
on June 14 and appointed by President Bush on June 18, 2001 to serve as the
Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality ("CEQ"). In this capacity,
he serves as the senior environmental advisor to the President as well as
Director of the White House Office of Environmental Policy, which oversees
the development of environmental policy, coordinates interagency implementation
of environmental programs, and mediates key policy disagreements among Federal
agencies, state, tribal and local governments and private citizens.
Prior to joining the Bush Administration, Mr. Connaughton was a partner in the
law firm Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, in its Environmental Practice Group. His
work covered a wide range of environmental policy issues, including environmental
management and compliance assurance systems, legislation, regulation, international
trade and standards, and ecological risk and natural resource damages assessment.
From 1993 until 2001, Mr. Connaughton served as one of the lead U.S. negotiators
of the ISO 14000 series of international environmental standards. Mr. Connaughton
also worked with officials from U.S. EPA, California EPA, and the Environmental
Law Institute to help form the Multi-State Work Group on Environmental Management
Systems ("MSWG").
Mr. Connaughton has extensive experience helping organizations large and small
become responsible environmental stewards through effective environmental management
and compliance assurance systems. This work has covered the electronics,
transportation, consumer products, home improvement, energy management, and mining
sectors, in North America, Mexico, Venezuela and Asia.
Mr. Connaughton has lectured throughout the world on international environmental
standards, environment and trade, environmental management systems implementation,
product regulation, and natural resource damages assessment.
Mr. Connaughton is a graduate of Yale University and graduated second in his class,
magna cum laude, Order of the Coif, from the Northwestern University School of Law.
At Northwestern, he was an Austin Scholar and served as Coordinating Articles Editor
of the Northwestern University Law Review. Following Law School, he clerked for
U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen in the Northern District of Illinois.
Mr. Connaughton is an avid vocal harmony singer, sailor, and beachcomber.
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