Background Information On Nominee To Be Social Security Commissioner

Michael Astrue

Educational Background

• October 1, 1956 Born, Fort Dix NJ
• Grew up in Boston area
• Attended Roxbury Latin School (Founded in 1645, in the reign of King Charles the First, Roxbury Latin is the oldest school in continuous existence in North America.)(Astrue sounds like a Boston blueblood.)
• 1978 B.A. Magna Cum Laude Yale University
  
• 1983 J.D. Cum Laude Harvard University
  

Work History

• 1983-1984 Law Clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Walter Skinner
  
• 1984-1985 Associate Attorney, Ropes and Gray
  
• 1985-1986 Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Legislation, Department of Health and Human Services
  
• 1986? Legal Counsel to the Deputy Commissioner for Programs, Social Security Administration
• 1986-1988 Counselor to Commissioner of Social Security
  
• 1988-1989 Associate Counsel to the President, Reagan Administration --served briefly as White House Ethics Officer
• 1989? Counsel to the President (Bush?)
  
• 1989-1992 General Counsel, Department of Health and Human Services (Note that at age 33, only six years after graduating from law school he is the head of a general counsel's office directing the work of hundreds of attorneys.)
  
• 1992-1993 Partner, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., Boston (with the end of the first Bush Administration he moves back to his home town of Boston)
  
• 1993-1999 General Counsel, Vice President and Secretary, Biogen (He seems to not like working in law firms. Biogen is a biotech company. General counsels are even more important at biotech companies than at most companies. Biotech companies are involved in much litigation, particularly high stakes patent litigation, much of it international litigation and are also involved in FDA applications. The results of either patent litigation or FDA applications can make and break biotech companies.)
  
• 2000-2003 Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel, Transkaryotic Therapies (This seems to be a downward move. Biogen is a much bigger company that Transkaryotic.)
  
• 2001 Name floated as possible appointment to head Food and Drug Administration -- Never formally nominated due to opposition of Senator Edward Kennedy and six other Democratic Senators who did not like Astrue's close association with the pharmaceutical industry. Astrue later quoted as saying "Ted [Kennedy] never said it was anything personal ..."
  
• 2003-2005 CEO Transkaryotic Therapies -- Hired to clean up a scandal caused by the previous CEO. He resigned when the company's board agreed to sell the company to Shire Pharmaceuticals PLC against his recommendation. (Note that even as CEO he could not prevent his board of directors from taking what he considered to be an extremely unwise sale of the company. Clearly, he did not have the board of directors where most CEOs keep them -- in their back pockets.)
  
• 2005 to date(?) Hudson Institute Adjunct Fellow (conservative think tank) (He seems to want to make a career change. Almost certainly, he could have gotten another good job in biotech or at some law firm that serves the needs to biotech companies.)
  
• For a few months in 2006, Interim CEO Epix Pharmaceuticals, which he sold to Predix Pharmaceuticals
  

Other Associations

• Chairman Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (dates?)
• Treasurer and Vice Chairman Massachusetts High Technology Council (dates?)
• Board of Directors, Tercica August 2005 to date?
• Board of Directors ArQule April 8, 2005 to date?
• Board of Directors, CaraGen June 13, 2005 to date? (Note that after he quits Transkaryotic in protest over what he considers an ill-advised sale of the company he is in great demand as a board member at other biotech companies.)
  
• Board of Directors Kenneth B. Schwartz Center (non-profit) (dates?)
• Adjunct Instructor, Emerson College (dates?)
• Adjunct Instructor Boston University Law School (dates?)
• Advisory Board, Journal of Science and Technology, Boston University Law School (dates?)
• Council Member Administrative and Regulatory Law Section, American Bar Association 1998

Personal

There is virtually no personal information available on the internet about Astrue. Some years ago it was mentioned that he was married and had one child. Apparently, he is known for preferring informal clothing.

Websites consulted:
Bizjournals.com
Goliath
Reagan Library
Forbes.com
Bush Library
ADVFN News
Journal of Science and Technology Law
American Bar Association
New England Legal Search
GovExec.com
Mass High Tech
Hudson Institute
Roxbury Latin School