(Source: U.S. Railroad Retirement Board press release, January 10, 2012)
CHICAGO — The U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) has appointed Karl T. Blank as its General Counsel, effective January 2012 upon the retirement of the agency’s previous General Counsel, Steven A. Bartholow.
As General Counsel, Mr. Blank is responsible for directing, coordinating, planning and administering the RRB’s legal services, including overseeing the staff of attorneys in the Office of General Counsel and the hearings officers in the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals, both located at the agency’s Chicago headquarters, as well as the staff of the Office of Legislative Affairs in Washington, D.C. He reports directly to the agency’s three-member Board and also serves as a member of the RRB Executive Committee, which is responsible for day-to-day operations and development of policy recommendations to the Board Members.
An RRB employee since 1973, Mr. Blank has served as Assistant General Counsel and Director of Hearings and Appeals since February 2009. In addition to being a member of the Illinois bar, he is admitted to practice before 10 of the 13 Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, including the 7th Circuit in Chicago.
Mr. Blank is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago (B.A. 1973) and the Loyola University Chicago School of Law (J.D. 1979). A native of Chicago, for the past 16 years he and his wife Gilda have lived in Wheaton, Illinois, where he has served as a member of the city’s Housing Commission. They are the parents of one daughter.