Advisory
Koskinen Nominated to be Head of IRS
On Thursday, the White House nominated John Andrew Koskinen, of the District of Columbia, to be Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
Aug. 02, 2013
On Thursday, the White House nominated John Andrew Koskinen, of the District of Columbia, to be Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
He would replace Douglas H. Shulman, the last confirmed IRS Commissioner, who served from 2008 through Nov. 9, 2012. Steven T. Miller initially held the post as acting-commissioner, but departed in the wake of the IRS profiling of conservative nonprofit groups. Daniel Werfel has held the post on an interim basis since May. If confirmed by the Senate, Koskinen’s term would expire in Nov. 2017.
“John is an expert at turning around institutions in need of reform,” said President Barack Obama. “I am confident that John will do whatever it takes to restore the public’s trust in the agency.”
Koskinen graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in physics from Duke University in 1961, where he was a Member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity and Phi Beta Kappa; graduated with an LLB, cum laude, (JD) from Yale University School of Law in 1964; and did post graduate work in Cambridge University, Cambridge, England from 1964 to 1965.
Koskinen served as President of the U.S. Soccer Foundation from 2004-2008. He previously served as the Deputy Mayor of the District of Columbia, the Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget, and Chair of the President’s Council on Year 2000 Conversion, the Year 2000 problem. He presently also serves on the boards of AES and American Capital, Ltd. On March 11, 2009, he was announced as the interim CEO at Freddie Mac. On April 23, 2009, he became the Principal Financial Officer after the death of Freddie Mac’s acting CFO. In August, 2009, with the hiring of a new CEO, he returned to his position as non-Executive Chairman of the Board of Freddie Mac.
Prior to entering government service, Koskinen worked for 21 years for the Palmieri Company as Vice President, President, CEO and Chairman, working on the turnaround of large, failed enterprises such as the Penn Central Transportation Company, Levitt and Sons, the Teamsters Pension Fund and Mutual Benefit. Earlier in his career, Koskinen served as Administrative Assistant to Senator Abraham Ribicoff (D-Conn.) from 1969-73, was Legislative Assistant to Mayor John Lindsey of New York City from 1968-69, served as Assistant to the Deputy Executive Director of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the “Kerner Commission”) from 1967-68, practiced law with the firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher from 1966-67 and clerked for Judge David Bazelon, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, from 1965-66.
Koskinen also chaired the Washington, D.C. Host Committee for the 1994 World Cup and the Duke University Board of Trustees.