Cynthia Giles is the new Assistant Administrator for the USEPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance and will direct the USEPA's enforcement efforts in the Obama administration. Prior to her appointment, she served as the Vice President and Director of Conservation Law Foundation's Rhode Island Advocacy Center, where she has focused on state and regional advocacy to combat climate change. From 2001 to 2005 she was head of the Bureau of Resource Protection in Massachusetts' Department of Environmental Protection. Prior to that, Giles worked for the USEPA in a variety of capacities from 1991 to 1997 and during that time, from 1995 to 1997, she was Enforcement Director for the USEPA Region III's enforcement program. While at the USEPA, she developed a "results-targeted" approach to enforcement. Prior to joining the USEPA, she was an AUSA, prosecuting environmental crimes. In short, she brings a lot of enforcement expertise to her new appointment. Ms Giles holds a BA from Cornell University, as well as a JD from the University of California at Berkeley and an MPA from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. She is admitted to the bar in the State of Rhode Island, U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island and State of Pennsylvania.
With record budget requests for its enforcement program and a high profile initiative to revamp Clean Water Act enforcement, the USEPA's enforcement programs are a high priority.
On December 18, 2009, she participated in a teleconference with the ABA