skip navigational linksDOL Seal - Link to DOL Home Page
Photos representing the workforce - Digital Imagery© copyright 2001 PhotoDisc, Inc.
www.dol.gov/ecab
November 3, 2008    DOL Home > ECAB Home   

ECAB - Board Member Background


Alec J. Koromilas, Chairman and Chief Judge, Employees' Compensation Appeals Board

Judge Koromilas was appointed as one of three permanent Members of the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board in January 2002. In January 2003 he was elevated to Chairman and Chief Judge. As Chief Judge he is responsible for the Agency’s operation which renders approximately 2500 opinions yearly.

Prior to his appointment, Judge Koromilas was a practicing attorney and partner in Koromilas & Koromilas, Attorneys at Law, in Dover, New Hampshire. Mr. Koromilas is a member of both New Hampshire and Maine State Bars.

From 1993 to 1998, Judge Koromilas was appointed to chair the New Hampshire Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, a three-member quasi-judicial panel, to preside over and adjudicate all statewide workers' compensation claims at the intermediate appellate level.

Judge Koromilas received his Juris Doctorate from Franklin Pierce Law School in 1991 and his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Boston University in 1986.

Colleen Duffy Kiko, Judge

Judge Kiko was appointed as one of the three permanent Members of the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board in March of 2008. She previously served as Member from 2002 through 2005.

Prior to her appointment, Judge Kiko served as the General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority and was in the private practice of law in Arlington, Virginia in the firm of Ronald M. Cohen & Associates, P.C. and in the Law Offices of Colleen Duffy Kiko, P.C. In 1989, she served as Associate Counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. From 1986-1989 she served in the U.S. Department of Justice as an attorney advisor in the Civil Rights Division and as a Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria, Virginia. From 1976 to 1983, she served as a supervisory labor relations specialist for the Federal Labor Relations Authority, formerly the Labor Management Services Administration of the Department of Labor, and the U.S. Customs Service before leaving to attend law school.

Judge Kiko holds a Juris Doctorate from George Mason University School of Law and a Bachelor of Science degree from North Dakota State University and is a Member of the Virginia and District of Columbia Bars.

David S. Gerson, Judge

Judge Gerson serves as one of the three permanent Members of the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board. He was first appointed to the Board in 1981. Prior to his service on the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board, Judge Gerson was the Senior Board Attorney for the Benefits Review Board from 1973 to 1981 working with workers' compensation statutes including the Black Lung Act and the Longshoremen's & Harborworkers' Compensation Act.

Judge Gerson received a Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall University School of Law (New Jersey) and his Bachelor of Science degree from Ursinus College (Pennsylvania) and is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar.

Michael E. Groom, Alternate Judge

Mr. Groom was appointed to the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board in June 1990. Prior to his appointment, he served as the supervisory attorney to the Board and a senior attorney with the Department of Labor. Mr. Groom began his legal career as law clerk to the Honorable Donald Brodkey and to the Honorable D. Nick Caporale, Associate Justices of the Nebraska Supreme Court. He holds a BA and JD from Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, where he was elected to Alpha Sigma Nu, the National Jesuit University Honor Society, and an editor of the Creighton Law Review. He holds an LL.M from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. In March 1998, Mr. Groom was recipient of the Department of Labor's Award for Distinguished Career Service. He is a member of the District of Columbia, Idaho and Nebraska Bar Associations.

James A. Haynes, Alternate Judge

Mr. Haynes was appointed to the Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board by Secretary Elaine Chao in September 2006. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Haynes practiced Workers’ Compensation Law for over 19 years in Maryland. As an Assistant Attorney General and later a Senior Attorney with the Injured Workers’ Insurance Fund, Mr. Haynes represented private and public sector employers in administrative, trial and appellate proceedings.

Before joining the Fund, Mr. Haynes served as counsel to the Maryland Senate Finance Committee and pursued the general practice of law. He represented clients in civil and criminal matters in various state courts and the Federal District Court for Maryland.

Mr. Haynes received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maryland Law School and was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1981. He is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association, The Federal Bar Association and the American Bar Association.




Phone Numbers