Counsel: Carrol P. Hand

Contact
E-mail: CHand@fmc.gov

Commissioner Daniel B. Maffei, of New York, was nominated to serve on the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) by President Barack Obama on November 19, 2015, confirmed by the United States Senate on June 29, 2016, and appointed by the President on July 18, 2016.

A native of Syracuse, New York, Commissioner Maffei’s career in government spans more than twenty years. He served two terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 2009 to 2011 and from 2013 to 2015. Immediately prior to being sworn in at the FMC, Commissioner Maffei was a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress and served briefly as a Senior Advisor at the United States Department of Commerce.

Commissioner Maffei’s time in Congress included service on the House Armed Services Committee, House Financial Services Committee, and House Judiciary Committee. His priority on the Armed Services Committee was to improve the military’s capacity to defend the country from terrorist and cyber threats. He worked on several provisions in the 2013 and 2014 armed services authorization bills to support and promote new and better technologies. On the Financial Services Committee, he focused on consumer protection and helped improve and pass, with increased bipartisan support, the Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights of 2009, a law that took important steps to level the playing field between customers and card issuers. Commissioner Maffei also served on the House Committee on Science and Technology and was Ranking Member of its Oversight Subcommittee.

While serving in Congress, Commissioner Maffei’s Central New York district included the Port of Oswego, the first U.S. port of call and deepwater port on the Great Lakes. Working closely with Representative Richard L. Hanna and New York’s Senators, he was able to secure vital funding to improve the port’s rail link and the resources to better dredge the port.

In between his two terms, Commissioner Maffei was a Senior Fellow at Third Way, LLC, a Senior Policy Advisor at Manatt, Phelps, Phillips LLP, and a visiting faculty member at the New York State College of Environmental Science and Forestry. From 2006 to 2008, Mr. Maffei was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for Pinnacle Capital Management, LLC, in Syracuse.

From 1998 to 2004, Commissioner Maffei worked on the Democratic staff of the House Ways and Means Committee as Press Secretary and Communications Director, and he was also Senior Policy Advisor for the Committee from 2004 to 2005. He was Press Secretary for United States Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan from 1997 to 1998 and was Press Secretary for United States Senator Bill Bradley in 1996.

Commissioner Maffei received his bachelor’s degree from Brown University and holds master’s degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.