International Program Director Bea Edwards Named Acting Executive Director of GAP

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) is announcing that Executive Director Mark Cohen has left the organization to become Deputy Special Counsel at the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), the federal agency charged with protecting and investigating the disclosures of federal whistleblowers. Cohen will report to newly appointed Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner, who has announced her commitment to strengthening the Office.

The appointment of Cohen to such a prominent position can only be seen as a great positive for federal whistleblowers, and the good government community as a whole.

“This is a time of celebration for whistleblowers everywhere,” stated GAP President Louis Clark. “Mark is a tremendous leader who cares passionately for the rights for all employees to safely expose corruption and wrongdoing. He is exactly the kind of whistleblower advocate who should be working in the Office of Special Counsel.”

The Obama administration has appointed a very strong team to lead the agencies that implement whistleblower laws. This team consists of subject matter experts whose professional lives have been committed to seeking justice for the victims of retaliation or discrimination. The scope of appointees with this commitment has been comprehensive, including the Administrative Review Board (which adjudicates corporate whistleblower cases), the Merit Systems Protection Board (which adjudicates federal employee cases), and the OSC. Cohen assumes his post at the OSC on Monday, June 20th.

GAP International Program Director Bea Edwards has been named Acting Executive Director. Edwards has been with GAP since 2006, and brings a track record of success to this position. She has effectively defended whistleblowers from retaliation at the United Nations, the World Bank, and the regional development banks. For the past five years, she has also campaigned for strong whistleblower protection policies at international institutions and through international coalitions.

Edwards worked with whistleblowers to: expose Paul Wolfowitz’s pattern of wrongdoing and duplicity at the World Bank (which resulted in his resignation); raise awareness of negligence and wrongdoing in the corporate compliance office of AIG leading up to the financial crisis of 2008, challenge the Inter-American Development Bank’s decision to terminate a whistleblower after she exposed the Bank’s senior official in Paraguay as corrupt; and raise awareness of whistleblower rights across the globe.

Contact: Dylan Blaylock, Communications Director
Phone: 202.457.0034, ext. 137
Email: [email protected]

Government Accountability Project
The Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, GAP’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, GAP is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.

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