Upton announces Energy and Commerce Committee staffers

Here are the committee staffers and their bios, via a statement from Upton’s office:

Michael Beckerman – Deputy Staff Director
Now in his second stint with Congressman Upton, Beckerman has served as Policy Director since 2007.  Prior to rejoining Upton’s staff, he served as Congressman K. Michael Conaway’s (R-TX) first Legislative Director. 

Jim Barnette – General Counsel
Barnette will return to the Committee to serve as General Counsel in the 112th Congress.  Barnette had previously served as General Counsel under Chairmen Tom Bliley (R-VA), Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and Joe Barton (R-TX).

Howard Cohen – Chief Health Counsel, full committee
Cohen has a Ph.D from the University of Massachusetts in Psychology and a law degree from George Washington University.  Cohen returns to the Committee after a decade of service in the 1990s where he worked on issues in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Public Health Service Act.

Alexa Marrero – Communications Director
Marrero has served since 2007 as Communications Director for the House Committee on Education and Labor under Senior Republican Members John Kline (R-MN) and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA). She was previously Vice President of Communications and Industry Relations for the nonprofit Education Finance Council, and before that served as Press Secretary for the Committee on Education and the Workforce under then-Chairman John Boehner (R-OH).

Sean Bonyun – Deputy Communications Director
Bonyun has served as Communications Director for Congressman Upton since 2003.  Prior to joining Upton’s staff, Bonyun served as Press Secretary for Congresswoman Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and Congressman Steve Kuykendall (R-CA).

Gib Mullan – Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and
Trade
Mullan joins the Committee after seven years of service with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, first as General Counsel and then as Director of Compliance and Field Operations overseeing thousands of investigations and recalls.  Most recently, he coordinated a conference on Import Safety involving ten federal agencies.

Neil Fried – Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
Fried continues his service on the Committee, where he has been involved in the enactment of the 2005 digital television transition legislation and congressional oversight of the 2009 transition date. Before joining the Committee in August 2003, he spent three years in private practice, where he specialized in television and telecommunications issues. Prior to his work in the private sector, he served four years with the Federal Communications Commission implementing the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Maryam Brown – Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Energy and Power
Brown returns to the Committee from the Senate Republican Policy Committee (RPC) where she served as Policy Counsel, managing RPC’s energy and environment portfolio. Brown previously served as Counsel to the Committee (2004-2006) as well as Staff Director to the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources (2006-2008), managing a wide range of energy and environment issues in both capacities.

Ryan Long – Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Health
Long joined the Committee as a Professional Staff Member in 2004 and became the Chief Health Counsel in 2006.  Prior to his work on the Committee, Ryan served as Congressman Joe Barton’s Legislative Director and also worked the office of Congressman Charlie Norwood.

Aaron Cutler – Deputy Policy Director and Counsel
A University of Michigan Law School graduate, Cutler continues his service on the Committee.  Cutler previously served as Energy Counsel, working on a range of energy issues, including, oil and gas, fuels, efficiency, and the Clean Air Act.

Marty Dannenfelser – Senior Advisor Health Policy and Coalitions
Dannenfelser moves to the Committee from his post as Staff Director for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.  He previously served as Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary at the Administration for Children and Families/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a Vice President at the Family Research Council, and Administrative Assistant for Congressman Christopher Smith (R-NJ).

Ray Baum – Senior Policy Advisor, Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
Baum, a native of La Grande, Oregon, is a former Majority Leader of the Oregon state House of Representatives and current chairman of the Oregon Public Utility Commission.  Baum also chaired the Oregon Broadband Advisory Council, served as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), and is state chair of the Federal–State Joint Board on Universal Service.