Keith Gottfried

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Keith E. Gottfried

Keith E. Gottfried is an American lawyer, most notably nominated by President George W. Bush on July 29, 2005, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 7, 2005, to serve as General Counsel for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).^[1]

1 Personal history
- 1.1 Background
2 Professional History
3 Notes

[edit] Personal history

[edit] Background

Keith Gottfried was born to parents Rosalie P. Gottfried, of Queens, New York City, and Bertram D. Gottfried, of Melbourne, Florida in Brooklyn, New York and raised in the neighboring borough of Queens. Mr. Gottfried is married to attorney Cindy Gottfried, and announced the birth of their daughter, Sophie Regine, at the University of Maryland Medical Center on March 14, 2006.^[2]

Mr. Gottfried has commented on both his personal life and upbringing in regards to his views on housing and urban development; this can be seen in a prepared statement (while a Nominee to be General Counsel) given to the Senate during a hearing of the United States Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on September 15, 2005.^[3]

[edit] Professional History

[edit] Law career

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Gottfried practiced public accounting with the Philadelphia office of Arthur Young & Company, a predecessor firm to Ernst & Young LLP, as a certified public accountant.

Mr. Gottfried holds a law degree cum laude from Boston University's School of Law, and was a named an Edward F. Hennessey Distinguished Scholar of Law and a G. Joseph Tauro Scholar of Law. He also holds an M.B.A. with high honors from Boston University Graduate School of Management, and a Bachelor of Science in Economics, with a concentration in accounting, from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School.

After attending law school, Mr. Gottfried was admitted to the state bars of California, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Mr. Gottfried is also able to practice before a number of federal courts, including the Ninth Circuit, Northern District of California, Southern District of California, Eastern District of New York, Southern District of New York, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and the District of New Jersey.

Mr. Gottfried was employed at the law firm Blank Rome LLP, where he served as a corporate attorney in their Philadelphia office. After this, he became a corporate attorney in the New York office of the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP for nearly seven years.

During his tenure at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Mr. Gottfried worked with the mergers & acquisition group, represented both public and private clients internationally, and practiced before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Gottfried also counseled clients with respect to corporate governance, securities law compliance, SEC reporting issues, and compliance with the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.^[4]

[edit] Business career

From 2000 to 2004, Mr. Gottfried served as a senior executive with Borland Software Corporation, a global provider of software development solutions located in Scotts Valley, California, representing Borland (as its outside counsel) prior to this. As an executive, Mr. Gottfried held the positions of Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, which made him responsible for all aspects of the company's legal function. In his final position at Borland, Mr. Gottfried served as the Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Special Advisor to the CEO, which involved enhancing company relationships with industry leaders.^[5]

[edit] Political career

As General Counsel of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD) from 2005 to 2006, Mr. Gottfried led a nationwide organization headquartered in Washington, DC. He also served as the Chief Legal Officer and was the Senior Legal Advisor to the Secretary, Deputy Secretary and other agency principal staff in the department. Mr. Gottfried also served as the chief legal officer for the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae).^[6]