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

United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

from 2014 to 2017, among other positions in

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...

Early life and education

Born in

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; ; lit. 'the crosses') is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the county seat, seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 United States ce ...

, 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 language, Taos-speaking (Tiwa languages, Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan peoples, Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. T ...

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, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

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

from

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

in 1986. He then received his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

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 i ...

, and is admitted to the bars of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

and New Mexico.

Career

First DOI positions

From 1986 to 1990 he worked as a professional engineer for

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

. 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 Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

and in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. 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 was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Ob ...

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 WilmerHale, is an American multinational law firm with offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Co-headquartered in Washington, D.C., and Boston, it was formed in 2004 through the m ...

, 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 Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

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 United States Department of Defense. The DA is the Federal government of the United States, federal government agency within which the United St ...

. 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 Defen ...

, 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