31 Facts About Alan Bersin

Alan Douglas Bersin was born on October 15,1946 and is an American lawyer.

Alan Bersin serves as an Inaugural Senior Fellow in the Homeland Security Project at the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, as a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, and as Inaugural North America Fellow at the Canada Institute and the Mexico Institute.

Alan Bersin is Chairman of the consulting firm BorderWorks Group, and Executive Chairman of Altana Trade.

Alan Bersin then served in turn as the US Attorney for the Southern District of California and the US Border Czar, the Superintendent of the San Diego City Schools, the California Secretary of Education, and the Chairman of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.

Alan Bersin was then the US Department of Homeland Security Secretary for International Affairs and Special Representative for Border Affairs, the Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection overseeing its 58,000-employee work force and operating budget of $12 billion, the DHS Assistant Secretary for International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic Officer, and the Vice President of INTERPOL for the Americas Region and a member of the INTERPOL Executive Committee.

Alan Bersin is a member of Congregation Beth Israel in San Diego.

Alan Bersin attended public schools and Hebrew school in New York City.

Alan Bersin attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, where he was a valedictorian.

Alan Bersin is married to Lisa Foster, a Judge in the San Diego Superior Court.

Alan Bersin was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

Alan Bersin was awarded post-graduate scholarships by the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the National Football Hall of Fame.

Alan Bersin then attended Balliol College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar from 1969 to 1971.

In 1974, Alan Bersin obtained a JD degree from Yale Law School.

Alan Bersin was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of San Diego in 1994, by California Western School of Law in 1996, and by the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2000.

Alan Bersin specialized in complex RICO, securities, commercial, and insurance litigation.

Alan Bersin then served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of California for five years, having been appointed by his former Rhodes Scholar classmate President Bill Clinton.

From July 2005 to December 2006 Alan Bersin served as California's Secretary of Education, having been appointed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Alan Bersin then served as Chairman of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, having been appointed by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders in December 2006.

Alan Bersin was the lead DHS representative on border affairs and strategy that related to security, immigration, narcotics, and trade, as well as for coordinating DHS border security initiatives.

From March 2010 to 2011, Alan Bersin served as Commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection.

Alan Bersin oversaw the operations of CBP's 58,000-employee work force, and managed a $12 billion operating budget.

Alan Bersin oversaw CBP's efforts to secure the borders of the US and mitigate threats to it, while at the same time supporting facilitation on legal trade and travel by increasing CBP's collaboration with the trade community and speeding up customs clearance and duty settlement for approved importers.

Alan Bersin oversaw DHS's international engagement, was the DHS Secretary's principal advisor on international affairs, and led the DHS activities in strategic planning and policy formulation.

Alan Bersin served as Vice President of INTERPOL for the Americas Region, and was a member of the INTERPOL Executive Committee, from when he was elected to those positions in November 2012 until 2015.

In 2014, Alan Bersin announced the Mildred and Arthur Alan Bersin Scholarship, to be awarded to students from Gompers Preparatory Academy, Abraham Lincoln High School, and the Preuss School who are accepted into Harvard University.

Alan Bersin donated a new weight room to Abraham Lincoln High School.

Alan Bersin has funded a Curtis-Liman Fellow to work with the Liman Center and Yale Law School's clinical program on issues of criminal law enforcement and immigration.

Alan Bersin served as a member of the Board of Overseers for Harvard University, and the Chair of the Visiting Committee for the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Alan Bersin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Alan Bersin serves as an Inaugural Senior Fellow in the Homeland Security Project at the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government; as a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington DC; as Inaugural North America Fellow at the Canada Institute and the Mexico Institute ; and as a member of the Advisory Committee to the Quebec Government Office in Washington.

Alan Bersin is Chairman of BorderWorks Group, a consulting firm specializing in border security and management; and Executive Chairman of Altana Trade, which is devoted to providing machine learning and artificial intelligence-based insights on border management and global trade.