Earl F. Gohl
ARC Federal Co-Chair
Earl F. Gohl was unanimously confirmed as federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) by the U.S. Senate on March 10, 2010. He is the eleventh federal co-chair to be appointed since the Commission was established by an act of Congress in 1965.
Gohl came to ARC with 20 years of experience in Pennsylvania state and local government. From 1975 to 1995, he held positions including executive assistant to the mayor of Harrisburg; elected member of the Harrisburg City Council; deputy secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community Affairs; and director of the Pennsylvania governor's Washington office. As deputy secretary, Gohl awarded and administered $100 million annually in housing and community development programs benefiting communities within the Appalachian Region. He also managed several initiatives to strengthen the capacity of rural local governments to meet economic challenges.
From 1996 to 2001, Gohl served as a special assistant, and then as an associate assistant secretary, at the U.S. Department of Labor. There he was responsible for the development and implementation of legislative strategy in the areas of immigration policy, employment standards, affirmative action and federal workers' compensation programs, and international affairs, including child labor and core labor standards.
From 2001 to 2009, Gohl was the director of government relations/deputy director for the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, where he formulated legislative and executive branch initiatives related to taxes, economic security, health care, education, nutrition, environment, homeland security, labor, housing, and transportation.
In his Senate confirmation hearing, Gohl stated that his objective as ARC federal co-chair would be to ensure that each federal dollar expended by the Commission was "an investment in the economic future of Appalachian families that will generate a return for American taxpayers."
Gohl holds a bachelor of arts degree from Rider College (now Rider University) in New Jersey and a master of public administration degree from Pennsylvania State University.
