Michael Lee Connor is an American politician, lawyer and engineer. He has served as the United States Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works since November 2021, and served as the

United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior The deputy secretary of the Interior, in the United States government, advises and assists the secretary of the interior in the supervision and direction of the Department of the Interior and its activities, and succeeds the secretary in his or ...

from 2014 to 2017, among other positions in

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

Early life and education

Born in

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern Ne ...

, he spent his childhood in New Mexico. He is an enrolled member of Taos Pueblo. His maternal grandfather was a leader within the

Taos Pueblo Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking (Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are considered to be one of the oldest ...

community and was an original member of Taos Pueblo's water rights task force. Connor received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

from

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's ...

in 1986. He then received his Juris Doctor from the

University of Colorado Law School The University of Colorado Law School is one of the professional graduate schools within the University of Colorado System. It is a public law school, with more than 500 students attending and working toward a Juris Doctor or Master of Studies in ...

, and is admitted to the bars of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and New Mexico.

Career

First DOI positions

From 1986 to 1990 he worked as a professional engineer for

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

. He was a research assistant in the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado from 1991 to 1993. He was then employed with the Interior Solicitor's Office in

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

and in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He began his Department of the Interior career in the Solicitor's Honors Program in 1993. During the Clinton Administration from 1993 to 2001, Connor served in the Department of the Interior, including as Deputy Director from 1998 to 1999 and then Director of the Secretary's Indian Water Rights Office from 1998 to 2001. While serving in this capacity he represented the Secretary of the Interior in negotiations with Indian tribes, state representatives, and private water users to secure water rights settlements consistent with the federal trust responsibility to tribes.

Counsel and Reclamation Commissioner

He served as counsel to the United States Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee from May 2001 until 2009. While serving as counsel he managed legislation for both the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey, developed water resources legislation and handled Native American issues that are within the Energy Committee's jurisdiction. He served as Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation at the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), a position he held from 2009 until his appointment as Deputy Secretary.

Deputy Secretary of the Interior

Secretary Jewell Swearing In Deputy Secretary Michael Connor

On July 31, 2013,

President Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

nominated Connor to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Interior, which was vacated by David Hayes who resigned at the end of June 2013. He received a hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on September 17, 2013. He was later confirmed in a vote of 97–0 on February 27, 2014, and was the first person of Native American descent to serve in that post.Connor Passes Committee for Interior No. 2 Post (Indian Country Today Media Network article-October 8, 2013)
/ref> Following his resignation as Deputy Secretary of the Interior, he was appointed as an Environment Program Fellow at the Walton Family Foundation. In September 2017, he joined the law firm of

WilmerHale Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, also known as Hale & Dorr and WilmerHale, is an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is co-headquartered in Washington, D.C. and Boston. It was formed in 2004 thr ...

, as a Partner in the firm's Washington, D.C. and Denver, Colorado offices.

Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works)

On April 27, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Connor to serve as United States Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works in the

United States Department of the Army The United States Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the U.S. The Department of the Army is the federal government agency within which the United States Army (U.S.) is or ...

. On July 27, 2021, his nomination was reported out of the

Senate Armed Services Committee The Committee on Armed Services (sometimes abbreviated SASC for ''Senate Armed Services Committee'') is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Def ...

, then by the

United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works The United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is responsible for legislation and oversight of the natural and built environment and for studying matters concerning environmental protection and resource conservation and util ...

on September 13, 2021. Connor was confirmed by the Senate on November 4, 2021 by a vote of 92–5. He was sworn into office on November 29, 2021.

Personal life

He and his wife Shari ée Hansonhave a son, Matthew and a daughter, Gabriela.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Connor, Michael J. 1963 births Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Biden administration personnel Clinton administration personnel General Electric people New Mexico Democrats New Mexico State University alumni Obama administration personnel People from Las Cruces, New Mexico United States Assistant Secretaries of the Army United States Deputy Secretaries of the Interior United States Bureau of Reclamation personnel University of Colorado Law School alumni Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr partners