Dennis M. Cariello has served as Deputy General Counsel for Postsecondary Education and Regulatory Services since June 6, 2008. In this post, he supervises the Division for Postsecondary Education and the Regulatory Services Division within the Office of the General Counsel. In that capacity, legal services to the Department relating to the development and implementation of Federal programs that assist postsecondary education (including implementation of the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act of 2008, other student lending issues, school accreditation, lender inducements and litigation matters). He also advises the Department on regulatory matters considered (including those related to the Higher Education Act and No Child Left Behind, as well as other regulations proposed by the Department). He also provides legal review of Congressional testimony and assists Department officials in Congressional relations related to Postsecondary Education and regulatory matters. He also heads the task force reviewing state compliance with Higher Education Desegregation Agreements.

From January 8, 2008 to June 6, 2008, Mr. Cariello served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement in the Office for Civil Rights. In that post, he oversaw the Department's enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act of 2001. He managed the Department's twelve regional Offices for Civil Rights, working with those offices on budgetary, employee and case related matters. He served as the deciding official on all appeals from case decisions of the Regional Offices. He also provided counsel to the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Civil Rights related to various matters (including the statutory and constitutional issues related to the statutes enforced by the Department, labor-management relations and equal employment opportunity).

Until June 6, 2008, Mr. Cariello also served as the Special Counsel to the General Counsel , a post he held since February 20, 2007. In this post, he acts as a principal advisor to the General Counsel on Federal education law and policy, and oversees the Department's responses to Congressional oversight requests and other Congressional matters. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Cariello served as a Senior Attorney with the law firm Barnes, Iaccarino, Virginia, Ambinder & Shepherd, PLLC, in New York City. There, he focused on trial and appellate work in a general commercial setting, with an emphasis on labor, employment and construction matters. Prior to joining Barnes, Iaccarino, Mr. Cariello established the law office of Dennis M. Cariello, P.C., where he focused on real estate matters and the needs of small businesses and entrepreneurs. Prior to establishing his own law firm, Mr. Cariello served as an associate with Cahill Gordon & Reindel, where he focused on the litigation of antitrust and other commercial disputes. Prior to joining Cahill Gordon, Mr. Cariello served as the Presidential Fellow of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.

Mr. Cariello was born in Queens, New York, and graduated from Rocky Point Jr.-Sr. High School in Rocky Point, Long Island. After graduating in 1992, he attended the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he studied American History and graduated with a B.A. in 1995 as a member of the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honors Society. He also served as a sportscaster and radio program host for WUSB 90.1 FM. While at Fordham Law School, Mr. Cariello won several academic prizes and served as the Senior Articles editor of the Urban Law Journal, as well as a member of the Moot Court Board's Trial Advocacy Team. He has also published multiple articles in the Urban Law Journal, as well as the Bloomberg Law Report. Mr. Cariello is a member of the Bar of the State of New York and is licensed to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the Central District of Illinois.