Ed’s role as Co-Chair of O’Melveny Salute is befitting of his lifelong professional and volunteer record of service in support of the military community, as well as his status as a veteran U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer. Ed’s insights on the unique needs of veterans and their families are drawn from a rich and ongoing family tradition of military service. His father and six of his uncles also served in the military as well as three of his brothers and all three of Ed’s sons.
Prior to working at O’Melveny, Ed held senior staff roles on Capitol Hill and under two presidential administrations, positions that intersected with national security and veteran issues. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Ed was tapped to serve as the Senior Advisor for Homeland Security for the Director of the Office of Personnel Management under President George W. Bush and had a direct role in the establishment of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. DHS was the largest restructuring of federal agencies since World War II and drew heavily upon the veteran’s community for critical staffing needs, especially those with high level security clearances. As Senior Advisor, Ed was also liaison to Veteran Service Organizations nationwide, and worked closely with the Vietnam Veterans of America, AMVETS, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion to protect veterans from illegal federal hiring discrimination, efforts which won him the Silver Helmet Award from AMVETS.
His support for veterans has continued throughout his 16 year tenure with O’Melveny. Locally, Ed is involved with the Inner-City Law Center of Los Angeles, which services veterans and their families across the greater Los Angeles area. He is also active in the Armed Forces Committee and Veterans Legal Service Project of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, which aids veterans, active military personnel, and reservists with their legal needs. Nationally, Ed serves as Vice President and Chair of the Veterans Health Initiative for the American Association of Kidney Patients (AAKP), the largest kidney patient organization in America. Based on his expertise on veterans’ health and patient reported outcome data, Ed was recently named by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to an executive committee overseeing new clinical trials to assess cardiovascular outcomes of veterans on dialysis. For AAKP, Ed provides ongoing expertise on veteran’s health concerns to Executive Branch officials and Congressional leaders and is among a team of volunteer kidney research program analysts supporting the U.S. Department of Defense’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP).
