The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry has voted to favorably report the nominations of Dan Michael Berkovitz to be a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and James E. Hubbard to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment at USDA.
The Committee held a hearing on the nominees on July 24. The Committee voted on July 31 to forward the nominations of Berkovitz and Hubbard to the full Senate for consideration.
“The Senate Agriculture Committee continues to work together on a bipartisan basis to advance qualified nominees,” said Committee Chairman Pat Roberts and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow in a joint statement. “Mr. Berkovitz and Mr. Hubbard are both experienced leaders fit to serve in these critically important roles.”
Hubbard, who is from Colorado, worked for the Colorado Forest Service for 35 years. During his two decades as State Forester, he served on multiple National Association of State Foresters committees, most notably as Chair of the Legislative Committee.
Hubbard has also worked as Director of the Office of Wildland Fire Coordination for the United States Department of the Interior and Deputy Chief for State and Private Forestry at the USDA Forest Service. He received his B.A. in forest management with honors from the College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University.
Berkovitz, of Maryland, was appointed to serve for the remainder of a five-year term expiring April 13, 2023. He a partner and co-chair of the futures and derivatives practice at the law firm of WilmerHale. From 2009 to 2013, Berkovitz served as General Counsel of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. While at the CFTC, he was the agency’s Deputy Representative to the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Prior to the CFTC, Berkovitz was a senior staff lawyer for the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.
Berkovitz is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law School, and vice-chair of the American Bar Association Committee on Futures and Derivatives. He obtained an A.B. in Physics from Princeton University and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
