On December 10, 2003, President Bush designated Neil A.G. McPhie to serve as Vice Chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB or the Board). Mr. McPhie was sworn in as a member of the Board on April 23, 2003, following his recess appointment by President Bush. The President’s nomination of Mr. McPhie to serve the remainder of the 7-year term that expires on March 1, 2009, had been pending in the United States Senate since January 9, 2003. Because the position of Chairman, which requires Senate confirmation, is vacant, Vice Chairman McPhie became the Acting Chairman of the Board upon his designation as Vice Chairman. The Board is currently operating with two members. The Acting Chairman’s staff is organized as follows: William G. Atkinson, Chief of Staff; Tracey D. Watkins, Senior Advisor; Linda Schweizer and Rachael Leonard, Attorney Advisors and Nancy Lund, Paralegal Specialist/Office Coordinator.

“I am honored to have been selected to serve with MSPB in this leadership capacity,” said Mr. McPhie. “I look forward to working with our dedicated employees as we advance federal employee relations.”

At the time of his nomination to the Board, Mr. McPhie was a Senior Assistant Attorney General with the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia where he served in a number of senior management positions and provided supervision to teams of attorneys and support personnel. Mr. McPhie served as Chief of the Finance and Government Section having served earlier as the Chief of the Employment Law Section. From 1982 to 1988, Mr. McPhie was an Assistant Attorney General with the same Office defending state agencies and officials in jury and non-jury trials in both state and Federal courts.

From 1998 to 2002, Mr. McPhie served as the Executive Director of the Virginia Department of Employment Dispute Resolution (EDR), overseeing the internal management of the agency, including strategic planning, staffing, and budgeting. In that position, he directed implementation of EDR’s statewide grievance, mediation, training and consultation programs.

From 1976 until he joined the Attorney General’s Office, he was a Trial and Appellate Attorney in the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Mr. McPhie received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1976. He received a B.A. in Economics from Howard University in 1973, graduating magna cum laude. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He is admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia, Virginia, New York and Iowa, the United States Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, several of the United States circuit courts of appeals, and district courts in Virginia.

The Board is an independent, quasi-judicial agency with responsibility for deciding Federal employee appeals from personnel actions taken against them and for protecting the integrity of the civil service and other Federal merit systems. The Board also conducts studies of the civil service and other merit systems in the Executive Branch.