CHAIR

CONSTANCE B. TOBIAS was appointed as Chair of the Departmental Appeals Board on April 29, 2007. Judge Tobias is the Senior Executive responsible for the entire Departmental Appeals Board. In addition to managing the DAB’s staff of 65 employees, as well overseeing the Board’s budget and administrative issues, Judge Tobias serves as one of five Board Members. Judge Tobias previously served at the Department of Veterans Affairs as a Chief Veterans Law Judge of the Board of Veterans' Appeals, as Counsel to the Chairman, and as a staff attorney. She received her J.D. from Cornell University and a Bachelor's Degree from Saint Augustine's College.

Board Members

JUDITH A. BALLARD has been a Board member since 1983. Prior to that she supervised Board staff attorneys. She is the former Chair of the Federal Bar Association Federal Grants Committee. Ms. Ballard received her J.D. from The George Washington University in 1977.

STEPHEN M. GODEK was appointed as a Member of the Board on July 9, 2008. Mr. Godek previously served in HHS as a Senior Counsel in the Office of Counsel to the Inspector General, Administrative and Civil Remedies Branch and as a Senior Attorney in the Office of General Counsel, Public Health Division. He has also worked with a task force with the Department of Justice as a Special Assistant United States Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida. Mr. Godek received both his Bachelor's Degree and his Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Virginia.

SHEILA ANN HEGY started as a Board Member in January 2005. She was previously an Assistant Regional Counsel in the HHS Office of the General Counsel, Region V. Before that, Ms. Hegy was an associate at Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal in Chicago; an attorney with Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, Champaign, Illinois; and, a Staff Attorney/Motions Law Clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Ms. Hegy received her J. D. from the University of Illinois College of Law.

LESLIE A. SUSSAN was appointed as a Member of the Board on September 3, 2006. She had served as a senior staff attorney in the Appellate Division at the Board since 1990. Her prior practice included seven years as a litigating attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as positions as Director of the Child Advocacy Center of DC, attorney for Migrant Legal Action Program, and legal editor for Aspen Hospital Manual. She received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1977.

Administrative Law Judges

CAROLYN COZAD HUGHES has been an Administrative Law Judge with SSA's Office of Hearings and Appeals since 1994. Prior to her appointment as an ALJ, she was an attorney with DHHS and a Clinical Professor of Law at IIT/Chicago Kent College of Law. She is a graduate of Stanford University and has a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.

STEVEN T. KESSEL has been an Administrative Law Judge since 1982. He has heard cases for the DAB beginning in 1984 and has been with the DAB on a full-time basis since 1988. From 1976 until 1982 he was an attorney with the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition. From 1971 until 1976 he practiced law. He is a graduate of Columbia University School of Law.

ALFONSO J. MONTANO has been an Administrative Law Judge since 1994. He has heard cases for the DAB, Civil Remedies Division since October 1999. He previously worked as an Administrative Law Judge for the Social Security Administration, Office of Hearings and Appeals from 1994 to September 1999. Judge Montano has also been a Trial Attorney with the United States Department of Justice and has worked in various positions in the Department of Health and Human Services. He is a graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law.

KEITH W. SICKENDICK has been an Administrative Law Judge since 1995. He accepted an appointment with the Departmental Appeals Board in September 2001. He previously served with the Office of Hearings and Appeals, Social Security Administration, including a period as Hearing Office Chief Administrative Law Judge. Judge Sickendick was a trial attorney with the Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice from 1989 to 1995. He served as a Judge Advocate on active duty in the United States Army from 1982 to 1989. He is a graduate of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri and the University of Missouri School of Law.

RICHARD J. SMITH has been an Administrative Law Judge since 1988. From 1971 until 1988 he was an Assistant United States Attorney, and in 1981 was appointed Senior Litigation Counsel in the Office of the U. S. Attorney. From 1978 to 1988 he was also a member of the curriculum committee and faculty of the Attorney General's Advocacy Institute, United States Department of Justice. He earned his undergraduate degree at Princeton University and his JD at the University of Texas Law School at Austin.

Administrative Appeals Council Judges

CLAUSEN J. KRZYWICKI has been an Administrative Appeals Judge of the Medicare Appeals Council since 1995. He was previously an Appeals Officer and attorney with the Office of Hearings and Appeals of the Social Security Administration. Mr. Krzywicki is a graduate of the George Mason University School of Law.

GILDE BREIDENBACH MORRISSON has been an Administrative Appeals Judge since January 2007. Prior to that, Ms. Morrisson was a senior attorney with the Departmental Appeals Board and an attorney in private law practice. Ms. Morrisson is a 1990 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law.

M. SUSAN WILEY has been an Administrative Appeals Judge since 1994. Prior to that, she was an attorney in the HHS Office of the General Counsel, Health Care Financing Division. Ms. Wiley is a graduate of the George Mason University School of Law.

SUSAN YIM has been an Administrative Appeals Judge since 2009. Prior to that, she was a Staff Attorney and Team Leader in the DAB’s Civil Remedies Division, as well as an Attorney-Advisor at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Judge Yim also had eight years in private practice. She earned her J.D. from Tulane University School of Law.

Last Revised: April 7, 2009

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