KEN ACKERMAN, counsel to the law firm of Olsson Frank Weeda Terman Bode Matz in Washington, DC, is a 25-year veteran of senior
positions in Congress, the executive branch, and financial regulation.
As administrator of USDA's Risk Management Agency from 1993-201, Mr.
Ackerman headed the federal crop insurance program that provides
coverage to over 1 million American farm producers under a
public-private partnership. In 1994 and 2000, he spearheaded the
Clinton administration efforts to upgrade the program through major
legislative reforms.
Mr. Ackerman served two tours in the
U.S. Senate, first as counsel to the Committee on Governmental Affairs
(1975-1981) under then-Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois, and later
as special counsel to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry (1988-1993) under its then-chairman Senator Patrick Leahy of
Vermont. In between, he held senior legal positions at the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission, which regulates markets in physical
commodities and financial derivatives.
During his career, Mr. Ackerman has
testified at dozens of congressional hearings, investigated and
developed legislation on topics from budget reconciliation to farm
policy to electronic eavesdropping to civil service reform to
financial market oversight. He has appeared before the media and
public groups including the National Association of Farm Broadcasters,
CNN, National Public Radio, AgDay television, AgriTalk radio, bar
associations, and government officials in London, Warsaw, Vienna, and
Tel Aviv.
Mr. Ackerman has published many
articles and three books on legal and historical topics including
Young J. Edgar: Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties,
Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the
Soul of Modern New York,
The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday 1869 and
The Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of
President James A. Garfield. He was profiled in Government
Executive magazine in 1997 and included by National Journal that year
in its "Washington 100" list of top federal decision-makers. He is a
graduate of Brown University and Georgetown University Law Center.
He is the author of the
Federal Regulatory Process Poster
(TheCapitol.Net).
