CIGIE Announces New Chairperson

In a press release from December 15, 2020, the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) announced their new chairperson, Allison C. Lerner. She began her term on January 1, 2021 and has previously served as the vice-chairperson of CIGIE and as co-chair of its Suspension and Debarment and Research Misconduct Working Groups.

Ms. Lerner has been the Inspector General of the National Science Foundation (NSF) since April 2009. Ms. Lerner previously served as Counsel to the IG, special assistant to the IG, Deputy Assistant IG for Auditing, and Acting Assistant IG for Auditing at the Department of Commerce. She joined the federal government in 1991, having previously worked as an attorney in Texas.

For the Vice-Chairperson position, Ms. Lerner appointed the Honorable Mark Lee Greenblatt, Inspector General for the Department of the Interior, who, at the time of the December 2020 release, served as Vice Chair of CIGIE’s Inspections and Evaluation Committee and previously served as CIGIE’s Executive Director. In total, Mr. Greenblatt has 17 years of federal oversight and leadership experience.

According to POGO’s Inspector General Vacancy Tracker, fifteen U.S. agencies are currently without permanent inspectors general, including the Central Intelligence Agency (vacant 2,168 days), Department of Defense (vacant 1,825 days), and the Department of Health and Human Services (vacant 586 days).

Ms. Lerner said of her new position, “I am honored to be elected Chairperson and excited to build on the excellent work of my predecessor, Michael Horowitz. I look forward to working closely with Mark Greenblatt and the rest of my colleagues to strengthen the IG community and ensure that FederalIGs remain capable of providing the independent, effective oversight that the American people expect and deserve.”