Cynthia L. Attwood

On January 20, 2021, President Joseph Biden designated Cynthia L. Attwood Chair of the Review Commission. This is her second designation as Chair.  Chair Attwood was first appointed to the Commission by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate in 2010. She was reappointed by President Obama in August 2013. Chair Attwood was again reappointed by President Donald Trump on January 9, 2020. She served as Acting Chairman and then Chairman from April 2015 until January 2017.

Prior to her appointment to the Commission, Chair Attwood spent 30 years in the Federal government as a lawyer and judge. She served for three years as an Administrative Appeals Judge on the Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board, adjudicating appeals brought under many labor laws and regulations. She also served in the Senior Executive Service at DOL for over ten years, as Associate Solicitor for Occupational Safety and Health, and before that as Associate Solicitor for Mine Safety and Health.  As a result of her work at the Department of Labor President George H.W. Bush awarded her the rank of Meritorious Executive in the Senior Executive Service.

Chair Attwood began her legal career as an appellate attorney in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, where she litigated cases before the Supreme Court and the United States Courts of Appeals.

A native of Oak Park, Illinois, Chair Attwood holds a B.A. degree from Oakland University and a J.D. degree from the University of Minnesota, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude, served on the Law Review, and was awarded membership in the Order of the Coif.